Hyrule: Year 3000
by Vivi3030
Summary: A reimagination of Hyrule as a galactic power in the midst of a massive civil war. A twist on the classic story, told from the point of view of Link, a sniper in the Hylian Navy. Can he use his powers to overcome darkness, rebellion, and his own personal demons? Sci-fi/Fantasy/Romance. Rated T-Plus for Adult/dark themes and strong language.
1. Part 1 Chapter 1

**This begins the rewrite of Part 1 of this story, which is ~100,000 words in 12 chapters. I'll be fixing normal continuity issues and plot holes. My fellow writers know all about this. Chapters should be coming out fairly quickly. Once that's done, I'll start writing Part 2.**

 **For my new readers, thanks for checking this story out. It was an idea I had for a while, and I decided to finally delve into it. I read every review and really appreciate the input, so please leave a few as you go through this.**

 ***In size order: Company-Battalion-Brigade-Division**

Hyrule: Year 3000

Chapter 1

Link

"Company command, I have eyes on the target." I whispered into my radio. "Requesting clearance for preemptive strike."

Once again, I was met with deafening silence. My initial fears that something had happened to the rest of the company were starting to become more believable. I had to continue to hold on to the hope that it was a radio malfunction on their end, though.

 _You know it's not a radio malfunction._

I ignored the voice, as I always did, and peered through the scope of my Supernova Model 4 sniper rifle. The captain of this cruiser was behind four walls, but I had come prepared with a magazine full of penetrator rounds. The multi-stage bullet would blast through eight individual walls, shredding off a piece of itself each time. I wasn't sure how the engineers had cooked this one up, but I had used it judiciously since its invention. The results were absolutely devastating on enemy morale.

The radio silence continued, so I decided to act on my own. The company mission was to take control of this King's Collective cruiser and transport it to a nearby Hylian Navy military checkpoint, where it would be repurposed. I was supposed to provide overwatch for the company that was raiding the vessel, but they were yet to be seen. I had heard a loud explosion several minutes ago, and I was beginning to worry that they had been ambushed. The plans for this raid could have been written up by a 10 year old, so it wouldn't surprise me.

I unloaded my rifle and took the penetrator round out of the chamber. Carefully, I pried off four of the explosive tips, and then popped the primer off the back of the cartridge. After pouring half of the gunpowder out, I put the primer back on and reloaded the round. The armorers back in the main force would throw a fit if they knew what I had just done, but I didn't particularly care.

 _Should leave enough energy to penetrate all four walls and then break the captain's ribs if he's wearing body armor. If not… Well, at least I tried._

I couldn't stand killing. It made me sick. Maybe it was because I had spent five years in some form of combat-arms jobs, but I had killed too many people. This was a civil war, and each time I pulled the trigger it was another Hylian life I was taking. These people may have had different ideals and beliefs, but we all grew up under the banner of the Hylian Empire. They didn't deserve to die for believing differently than me. They just needed to commit to peaceful solutions rather than violence.

 _Peace requires constant vigilance, I suppose._ I thought to myself. _But that doesn't mean I can't give this guy a chance._

I breathed in and out steadily, slowing my heart rate. There was more activity in the bridge now. People were running back and forth, but the captain remained still. That was how I had initially spotted him amongst the crowd of red blobs in my scope.

 _There wouldn't be this much activity in the bridge if they didn't know we were here. I need to take the shot._

I pulled the trigger slowly, feeling the first break and holding. Two stages, two breaks, and then the rifle would fire. I exhaled slowly, aiming a couple centimeters high of my center-mass target to account for the gunpowder I had poured out. It wouldn't matter much more than that at this short range, but I couldn't just ignore it.

 _Just over fifty meters. Too easy._

I squeezed the trigger.

Suddenly, the whole ship rocked, and a shock wave blasted down the hall. My shot was already away.

 _What the hell was that?!_

Through my scope, I saw the captain soar several meters across the bridge and collapse in the corner. Whatever the explosion was, the Collective pilots obviously hadn't been expecting it, and my shooting of their leader further complicated their situation. Now was the time to act. I switched to my battalion-level radio frequency.

"Ghost to Hawk-6, all radio contact with company has been lost. I'm in a position to capture the bridge. Please advise."

It should have taken several seconds for battalion command to even receive my message, but they responded immediately.

"Hawk-6 to Ghost, the company was ambushed and vented from the ship. You're on your own in there. We'll stop firing until you figure out a way to get out of there."

Several thoughts went through my head at once. First, they thought that we had all been killed, but hadn't bothered to actually confirm that the amount of bodies being vented actually matched the number of Hylians on the Collective ship. Second, they had started firing on the ship that I was still on, despite the fact that they lacked that knowledge. Third, rather than trying to recover their ambushed sailors, battalion command had placed higher priority on destroying a relatively unimportant enemy cruiser.

"Ghost to Hawk-6, what the hell are you guys thinking? I'm going to take the bridge. Go get those sailors while they can still be recovered."

"Negative, Ghost. It's already past twelve minutes. They're gone. Find a way to escape."

I had gotten in trouble for debating the commander's plan beforehand, but it had been completely useless. He was keeping the whole company together rather than splitting into four platoons and raiding the ship from different points. That was the worst raid idea I had ever seen. Any officer worth his salt should have known that raiding a ship from a single entrance point was certain death. I could think of at least twenty different ways to stop the enemy from doing that on my own, should they ever be stupid enough to try.

I would have to save my reaction for later. The crewmembers were still reeling from the impact of the Hylian destroyer's main cannon, so I needed to clear the bridge now.

I waited in silence for a moment as a squad of infantrymen passed below me. My helmet kept others from hearing me speak, but I had never been able to completely trust technology if I couldn't confirm its effectiveness with my own five senses.

"Hawk-6, I need confirmation that the main pilot on these cruisers sits in the second seat on the port side of the ship." I said.

"Affirmative, Ghost. What are you planning?"

 _I was hoping to avoid this._

I sighed, knowing that the time to spare lives was over. I quickly scanned the bridge with my thermal scope, counting fifteen people including the downed captain. This was standard operating procedure for the Collective. I had ten rounds in a regular magazine. The captain was likely going to remain as he was, and I wouldn't be shooting the main pilot. That left thirteen people that I needed to dispose of before I could safely enter the bridge. If I left the bullet in the chamber and then added another to the magazine to replace the one I had just fired, that was eleven rounds total.

Thirteen people, eleven rounds. If I had to change magazines, people would slip through the cracks.

 _This could be interesting._

"Hawk-6, I'm moving into the bridge now. Stand by for confirmation of mission success. If ten minutes pass, assume mission failure and continue firing. Ghost out."

After that, I turned off my radio and screwed a suppressor onto my rifle's barrel. The rifle wouldn't have cycled properly if I had used it with the underpowered round a few minutes ago, but now I could go silent. I looked back to confirm that my optical camouflage was still working. There was a lot of commotion going on down the hall, which helped cover the sound of me unloading the magazine and replacing the round I had fired.

 _Back to front, left to right._ I told myself. That was my system for clearing bridges. The guards always stood by the doors, so moving from back to front eliminated them first. Going left to right was just to make sure I didn't miss anyone. It was something I had been taught in sniper school.

The first two guards dropped so quickly that nobody had time to react. The third guard went down almost immediately afterwards, just as he started to turn around. I made a mental note of where the main pilot was.

 _Good, he hasn't left his seat._

These were well-trained sailors. If the pilot left his seat, the enemy ships would likely move in to attack.

I found my opportunity to save a round. The weapons system commander stood up and attempted to dive for cover, momentarily lining up with another crewmember who had kept his seat. I put a bullet through both of them.

I rapidly worked through the rest of the room. The assistant pilot made the same mistake as the weapons commander, and earned a quick death along with the life support commander.

When my magazine ran empty, the only two people still alive were the captain and the pilot. Furthermore, it looked as if my suppressed Supernova hadn't attracted any attention from the crewmembers scrambling around the hallways below me. I switched my radio back on, signaling battalion command.

"Ghost-five to battalion command, the bridge is clear. The pilot is alive and unharmed, and the captain is potentially mortally wounded. Will confirm momentarily. How copy?"

"Solid copy, Ghost-five. What's the status of the rest of the ship and its occupants, over?"

"They appear unaware of my presence. I'm going into the bridge now."

I leapt from my hiding position in the rafters and hugged the wall. The optical camouflage I had been provided with was nearly perfect, but couldn't help me if someone ran into me in the middle of the hallway.

The door to the bridge was sealed, as expected. I tied a small door breaching charge to the handle, and then stepped back. Five seconds later, the charge blew the door to pieces, sending an ear-splitting shriek through the corridors as it was forcibly ripped from its frame. I hooked my rifle to the magnetic strip on my back and unholstered my handgun.

I ran into the long hallway and shot the fire sprinkler on the ceiling, which automatically sealed the thick fire door behind me. It was a fundamental flaw in the system of the Skirmish Cruiser models, which I had long ago learned to exploit. The local fire doors were connected to the sprinkler system, rather than controlled by a "dumb" AI. Now nobody could get into the bridge without hefty explosives.

There was another door at the end of the hallway that I knew would open into the bridge itself. I placed another breaching charge and activated it, holding my handgun at the ready.

The door was blown off its hinges, and I stormed into the bridge. The pilot had finally stood up and taken cover, and tried to shoot me with his sidearm. I placed a shot across the barrel, disabling the weapon immediately.

"Sit." I said, pointing my handgun at his face. He looked defiant for a moment, but finally did as I instructed. I noticed that the cruiser was pointed at the Hylian destroyer, now visible as a dot in the distance.

"If you so much as _think_ of sending a shot towards that destroyer, I'll make sure you die the slowest, most painful death possible. Open the hangar doors and step away from the console."

The pilot glanced at a rifle one of the fallen guards had been holding. I fired a round into its trigger group to make my point clear.

"You wouldn't make it halfway there before I shot out your knees." I said. "For your own sake, don't do it. I don't want to have to kill you."

He pressed a few buttons, and Battalion command came over the radio.

"That did it, Ghost. Get him to call a stand-down so we don't have to do a full scale raid of the interior."

I walked up behind the pilot, placing the warm barrel of my handgun against the back of his neck.

"You can spare a lot of lives today by making your crew stand down, or I can vent the entire ship. What will you do?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't call my bluff. I had no idea how to vent the cruiser's atmosphere.

I could feel his rage even while standing behind him.

"Piss off. You'll have to kill me before I order a stand-down." He growled. "The Collective will never surrender to the oppressors."

I sighed, wishing he would just cooperate for a few more minutes.

"You do realize that we don't torture Collective prisoners of war." I said, holstering my handgun. "I don't know what kind of propaganda you guys see, but I've been to the camps, and they're not what you're expecting."

It was the truth. Hyrule had made every effort to bring the King's Collective back under Hylian rule peacefully.

The pilot ignored me. He probably expected me to kill him. Fortunately, I had other methods, although I hated resorting to this almost as much as I hated killing people. I closed my eyes for a moment and extended my magical energy outwards, finding the pilot's aura. With very little effort, I overpowered his will, and took control.

"Order the stand-down." I said, my voice resonating throughout the bridge.

Like a zombie, the pilot turned on the intercom and spoke into the microphone.

"All crew members be advised, we are being captured by a Hylian destroyer. Initiate code white. I repeat, initiate code white. Do not attempt to fight." He said.

"Hawk-6, the crew should be standing down or in confusion. Now is the time to board."

"Roger, Ghost. You can meet up with one of our boarding parties to return home. Good work. Hawk-6 out."

I breathed a sigh of relief and let the pilot slip into unconsciousness. At least he wouldn't have to live with the guilt of making the decision to order his crew into surrender. I had forced him to.

 _I can give you more power than that. You need me. Let me show you._

I ignored the voice again and took a moment to reflect on the entire company that had just been lost because of a bad plan. Fortunately I hadn't taken the time to get to know any of them, but it was still a devastating loss.

The blame game would have to wait, though.

…

When the boarding craft landed back at home base, I was met by practically the whole division. I shuddered as I looked at them out the window. They always did this when I came back from a particularly close call.

 _I wish they'd just ignore me._ I thought, putting my hood up. I wore a black cloak on top of my optical camouflage cloak simply because it had become a thing among the sniper teams. It gave us an air of mystery and a little bit of freedom to move around unnoticed once we uncovered our faces. As long as nobody saw us take the cloaks on or off, they wouldn't think twice about our uncloaked appearance. It had the added effect of preventing lone wolf Collective terrorists from identifying who we were.

The gathered crowd erupted into cheering and applause when I stepped off the ship. The on-ship press had completely blown my exploits out of proportion, and these men viewed me as a hero. I didn't want that title, but it was an unfortunate consequence of all the high stakes missions I had pulled off. To them, I was simply known as "The Ghost."

 _I hope they haven't forgotten what we lost back there. All of Alpha Company wiped out, and they're sitting here cheering for me like nothing happened._

The battalion commander was standing at the front of the crowd, smiling.

"Welcome home, Link." He said, shaking my hand vigorously. "Come see me in my office once you get cleaned up and have a meal. I need you to testify about the events of the raid so I can write the report. I also have a couple things for you."

I stared at him with open contempt, but shook his hand anyways. This wasn't the place for me to disagree with his approving this ridiculous raid plan. He couldn't see my face anyways.

"I'll be there in an hour, sir." I said, letting go of his hand and walking away.

 _The Navy and all of its damn paperwork._

He knew I was displeased, although I doubt he knew about what. Most good officers didn't bother questioning the snipers. They simply listened. The crop of idiots directly above me was a special kind of stupid, though. The fact that this moronic single-entrance raid had passed battalion without being questioned was proof of that.

I walked back to my room and locked the door. The bright side of being a sniper was that we all lived alone and could practically do whatever we wanted. If I lived in the barracks downstairs, I would have gone crazy long ago.

I threw my Supernova on the bed and took off my black cloak. It took several minutes, but I was able to remove my full-body TALOS exosuit. It was an old invention, but it worked well. The "Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit." It certainly lived up to its name. Something about an old Nordic god of war.

I put my cloak back on to hide my face and left the room again, listening for it to lock behind me. A quick trip to the cafeteria and a hastily eaten meal later, I found myself standing in front of the battalion commander's door.

 _Lt. Col. Breaker_

 _Hylian Navy_

 _Commander, 1-133_ _rd_ _Assault Battalion_

 _How did he even make it this high in the ranks?_ I thought, baffled as I looked at the plaque outside his door.

"Link!"

I felt a pat on my back, and the commander walked around me. He put his hand on the door, and it unlocked for him.

"Please, come in." He said, holding the door open for me. "Do you like whiskey? You deserve some."

"No thanks. Don't use my name outside your office." I muttered, leaving my hood up as I passed him and entered the room. It was petty of me, but I wanted Colonel Breaker to know I was displeased with him. As the door shut behind me, I removed my hood.

"Well then, I suppose we should get straight to your account of what happened, but I'm already getting preliminary reports that you're responsible for the deaths of thirteen enemy officers and the capture of several hundred men, including the captain of the vessel. That's a damn good job, if I do say so myself. Especially given the circumstances."

I didn't respond.

"Please have a seat." The commander said, motioning to the chair across from his desk. I did as he asked, albeit slightly grudgingly.

"Look, I understand you must be upset." He said to me. "I certainly am, and I wasn't even on that ship. But I need you to talk to me about what happened while it's fresh in your head. I'm sure you know how important that is. Normally this would be the company commander's job, but… Well, I'm next in line."

"I'm well aware." I said. It only took several minutes, but I told him everything that happened from the time I boarded ahead of the company through one of the weapons systems. Once I had finished, he looked up at me.

"I think I've got everything you said."

"Good. Can I go now, please?" I asked, purposely not calling him sir. It was another small pleasure.

The commander looked at me for a moment, and then scratched the back of his neck. He was nervous.

"In a moment. I need to talk to you about a few things first."

"Yes?"

"Well, it's about PR." He started.

 _He didn't just say that._

"I just had an entire company wiped out during a simple raid and capture mission, save for one sniper. This is a career-ender for someone of my rank."

 _This is_ NOT _happening._

"So what needs to happen is for your report to reflect that this was a complete accident. It was nobody's fault. After all, what I'm hearing is that there was an explosion in the large room that the company entered. Who knows what set it off?"

"Hell no." I said, staring him straight in the eyes.

"You misunderstand. This isn't a one-sided-"

"No. I'm not lying to cover for you." I said, cutting him off. "It was your incompetence that allowed this to happen. _You_ were the one who approved the plan for an entire company to enter from the same spot on that cruiser, which set them up for a trap. It was likely that a fire was started and then the room was flooded with oxygen, which meant that the cruiser's officers knew they were being boarded from a central location and purposely blew up that room."

I could tell I was spot on with my guess. The commander shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"The blood of Alpha Company is on your hands." I continued. "And you have the gall to bring me in here and ask me to cover for you? You think that even if I _could_ pull that off in my report, I _would_? I have absolutely no obligation to do so. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I have an obligation to make sure that you never command a single sailor ever again."

"Well that's fine, but I have this stack of papers here." He said, keeping surprisingly cool. I looked down at the papers and scowled.

"Tear them up. I don't want that." I said.

"You know what this is?" He asked.

"Yes, that's a nomination for the Hero of Hyrule medal. Are you trying to bribe me into silence with a nomination for the highest award for valor in the Empire? As if I would even deserve something like that after submitting a false report."

"You could call it bribery, but I prefer to think of it as negotiation." The commander replied.

"I won't take your bribe. Not only is that illegal, it's immoral. I didn't earn that medal, and I could never take it in good conscience. Nor could I lie about your incompetence in a report to division. Furthermore, submitting this award would give away my identity to the masses."

"You'll be set for life. You won't need to be in the military anymore."

"Absolutely out of the question."

"Then how about you consider this an act of good faith?" The commander asked, organizing the papers and putting them in a folder. He opened a box on the wall and slid them into a chute. "Now they're submitted, because I think you deserve the award regardless. So does the rest of your chain of command. Give it some time to think about the report, and then submit it at your leisure within the next three days. I won't see it. I'm sure you know reports like this go straight up to the division staff, not me."

"You're a disgusting bastard." I said, standing up and walking towards the door. "And you're not going to get away with this. I'll report that award as fraudulent myself if I have to."

With that, I flipped my hood up and walked out, slamming the door behind me.

 _Sweet goddesses, a corporal swearing at the battalion commander and slamming the door in his face? What's gotten into me?_

…

I gave up trying to sleep that night. As exhausted as I was, I couldn't stop thinking about the men in the company that had been lost. I supposed it wasn't entirely the battalion commander's fault. Maybe he was trying to show support for the company commander's idea, and didn't think the consequences would be as grave as they were. That being said, asking me to lie on a report was inexcusable. I wrote it and submitted it to the division commander the exact same way I had told it to Lieutenant Colonel Breaker. No padding, no missing details, just facts.

 _It's above my head now._ I thought to myself, feeling like a burden had been lifted off my chest. I had even included a small part asking that my consideration for the Hero of Hyrule Medal be removed. I wasn't going to mess around with that.

As for what to do with the rest of my time, I had no idea. I had received an email notifying me that I had been granted a month of paid leave by the brigade commander due to the amount of time I had spent in combat during the past year. That meant that I was expected to leave the ship and chill out on a planet somewhere away from the chaos of space. But where could I go?

Early in the morning, there was a knock at my door. I woke up startled more by the fact that I had fallen asleep than anything else. I grabbed my handgun and hid it behind the door as I opened it. There was a private standing outside with a tablet in hand.

"Hi there, my name is Private Hedon. I'm with the 453rd Press Company. I was hoping you had a few minutes to talk about yesterday's events and your nomination for the Hero of Hyrule Medal."

"Do you realize how early it is?" I asked, realizing this private must be nervous to talk to me. I decided I didn't care, and the fact that he knew about the nomination pissed me off even more thoroughly.

"It's 0730." He said. "Muster was an hour and a half ago. I was expecting you to be awake. It's also when my platoon sergeant told me to come find you."

"Well do me a favor and wake your platoon sergeant up to interview him early in the morning next time he gets back from a combat mission." I replied.

"Corporal, I just have a few questions and they'll kill me if I go back empty-handed." Private Hedon said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Then buy a couple cups of coffee and hand them out to your officers. They'll spare your life." I started closing the door.

"You were approved for the award by the division commander first thing this morning. Are you aware of that?"

I froze with the door halfway shut.

"I…what?" I asked, dumbfounded. "How?"

"It was announced over the intercom this morning at muster." Private Hedon said. "It's going up to the Secretary of the Navy and then the Hylian Council. Do you have a few words you'd like to say about it?"

"No, absolutely not." I said, shutting the door in his face.

 _Goddesses, why me?_

This wasn't what I wanted at all, and it was about to completely blow my cover and purpose for being in the military. I had goals that required me to remain completely hidden, posing as a simple sniper. Even if I didn't have ulterior motives to all this, I wouldn't want recognition. I was just doing my job.

But now even if the Secretary of the Navy disapproved the award, I would be receiving a Bronze Star. But he had never disapproved the award in the past. So once it cleared him, the Hylian Council would vote on it. If they struck the incident down as not deserving of the Hero of Hyrule Medal, I would get a Silver Star. If they passed it, the award would go to the Queen herself for final approval. She was quite selective, and rejections would lead to the granting of the Combat Cross, which was the second highest award in the military.

Regardless, now I would have to make a trip to the home planet, Castle, to attend Council hearings on the incident. If I were actually to be awarded the highest medal, I would receive it directly from the queen herself.

 _Oh no._

 _No._

 _This can't be happening. I specifically asked to not be nominated for this. The division commander doesn't even know me. Why would he do this?_

I opened my emails to see if I had been sent anything about this. Sure enough, there were notifications from the brigade and division commanders.

 _From: Colonel Ozcar, Jackson_

 _Subject: Hero of Hyrule Medal Approval_

 _Corporal White_

 _I have approved your nomination by your battalion commander for the Hero of Hyrule Medal due to your outstanding service, bravery in the face of death, and your determination to complete the mission, no matter the circumstances.  
_

 _Best of luck to you!_

 _Col. Ozcar_

The second one was from the division commander at 5 in the morning.

 _From: Brigadier General Calrin, William_

 _Subject: Hero of Hyrule Medal Approval_

 _Corporal White_

 _Your nomination for the Hero of Hyrule Medal has been approved. I am currently directing it towards the Secretary of the Navy. Please don't make plans for your month of leave. Come by my office near the bridge today for more info._

 _Brig. Gen. Calrin_

This was like my worst nightmare. Except way worse.

…

"Son, I don't know what to tell you. The fact is that even up at my level, I've heard of your amazing accomplishments. Half of them I refuse to believe until I read the reports and watch the helmet cam videos."

The division commander was an older man. Probably in his fifties by now. Unlike my useless battalion commander, this man had clearly earned his position. He was an absolute brute, with arms nearly as big as my torso and a mind sharper than a razor.

"Sir, I don't want this. Is there any way you can rescind it at this point?"

"Absolutely not. And I wouldn't even if I could, because I've submitted five of these in my time and every single one of those guys gave me the same sob story. You're no different."

I sighed, but didn't let my frustration show. This wasn't just my battalion commander, and I would have my ass handed to me the second I showed him attitude.

"Furthermore, the Secretary approved the award a few minutes before you walked in. It's already sitting on the Council's agenda, and will probably be voted on within a week."

I closed my eyes and exhaled slightly, fuming to myself.

"Sir, really-"

"Your argument is useless." General Calrin said, cutting me off. "Now cut it out. What's going to happen is that you're going to Castle tomorrow. You can save your month of leave for later, and I'll even double it for you. But when that Council votes, you'll be standing there to receive the results." 

I was baffled. This was all so sudden. Despite that, I couldn't show it, as a general had just all but told me to stop whining.

"Yes, sir." I said finally. I didn't have to be happy about this, but I would have to accept it.

"That's what I like to hear." General Calrin said, patting me on the back. "I know you don't believe it, but it's an honor for me to serve with men like you. When this happens… well, it makes it all worth it. I just wish every man in the Navy were like you. This war would be over in no time, and we could all go home."

I looked down at my lap. He was right; I didn't believe it all. I couldn't.

"Thank you, sir. I just wish…" I started, but cut myself off. I knew better than to complain about the lower chains of command to him.

"Go ahead. You've earned the right to say whatever it is."

I sighed.

"Did you read my report about my company and battalion commanders?" I asked, hoping I wasn't overstepping my bounds. Jumping the chain of command this far up was a bold, extremely rude step.

"Of course I did." He said. "I'm taking care of it. Don't worry, this won't happen again. And I certainly won't let it affect your award, although I feel certain that's not what you're worried about."

"Correct, sir." I said. "I just witnessed an entire company get wiped out by poor planning and leadership. I couldn't care less about how that affects an award."

The general nodded, and then motioned me to the door.

"Well, unfortunately I don't have enough time to talk with you more about this." He said. "You're free to leave for Castle anytime, as long as you leave now."

"Lastly, if you meet the Queen," He looked over the top of his glasses at me, "Make a good impression. She's single, and around your age. I've also heard she's partial to us Navy folk."

I chuckled a little at that.

"The dreams of an old man living vicariously through his younger sailors, sir?" I asked jokingly.

"Ha!" The general laughed loudly. "Get out of my office, you idiot. I should have you hanged for speaking of our queen so loosely."

I allowed a grin to creep across my face, and saluted. The commander returned my salute, and I left the office. Having received my task, I decided to waste no time packing and soon found myself heading down to the docking bay. Once there, I checked in to the front desk. Within minutes a friendly pilot who looked no older than myself greeted me.

"Corporal White, I'm your ride." He said, shaking my hand. "It's only a couple hours to Castle from here, so it won't be a rough journey. It's great to finally know who you are."

I privately lamented the fact that my cover had been completely blown, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. The masses didn't know my true secret, and that was what really mattered.

I boarded the passenger ship he had flown down to meet me and looked around at my home through the window. Who knew how long I would be gone? This was such a sudden, abrupt turn of events that I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it.

"You ready to go?" The pilot asked. I nodded, and he pressed the launch button.

In just a few minutes, I found myself drifting away from the destroyer and into open space. The pilot gassed the engine, punched in a few coordinates, and before I knew it we were headed towards Castle at several hundred times the speed of light.

The real adventure was only just now beginning.

…

 **Please review! I'm always interested in what my readers have to say.**

 **Updated Aug 14** **th** **, 2016**


	2. Part 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Zelda

I woke up with a raging headache, knowing that the day was going to be awful. Just like yesterday, and the day before that. I couldn't even remember the last time I had been able to sit down for a few hours and relax. A full day off was unheard of.

I groped around in the darkness for the glass of water my guard usually left by my bed, relieved when I found it was still cool. I quickly downed it and sighed before looking at the time.

 _4:15. That's an hour more sleep than I had yesterday, so I guess that's good._

Still, two hours wasn't much.

Groaning, I sat up and swung my feet off the bed, swearing as I knocked an empty wine bottle to the ground. I picked it up and threw it in the glass bin, which was almost full already.

As I was brushing my teeth, I realized I was still slightly buzzed from the night before.

 _Damn, I need to quit drinking so much._

I had watched my father go down this same road and drink himself to his death, but here I was making the same mistake.

I would have to worry about that later. I splashed cold water on my face and tried to make my hair look presentable, foregoing a shower due to my 4:30 meeting with the security council. A quick look at my agenda filled me with dread. My whole day was going to be loaded with meetings until after dinner. There wouldn't even be time for me to eat lunch.

 _Who requests all these meetings, anyways? Have they ever heard of some free time or personal space?_

I pushed the complaints aside and put on a dark blue dress, then left my bedroom. My Special Service Corps guard was standing outside in the living room, and bowed when I entered.

"Good morning," I said, yawning loudly.

"Good morning, your majesty." He replied.

Rusl always took the bulk of the guard duty for me, usually working weekdays during the mornings. Because of that, he was the one who was most visible at my side, although the guards flipped around occasionally. There were nine of them in total, selected from the various branches of the military by their leader. The current leader was Impa, who had been around since long before I was born.

"Is everything all right?" I asked, sensing that something was off.

"No, your majesty. Lenzo was killed last night in a crash above Planet Faron."

My stomach dropped. This was quite unexpected, and hadn't happened during my time ruling the empire. Lenzo was a sniper, and had consistently proven himself to be the best shot in the entire military. That was why he was promoted to the SSC in the first place. He was my primary assassin, and had been extremely effective in that position.

I sighed and shook my head. I hated it when people died under my watch, even if there was nothing I could have done about it. This felt especially personal, though, since the SSC was my shadow.

There was a moment of silence, but my 4:30 meeting was still looming.

"I hate to switch gears after that, but I've got four minutes to be in the meeting room." I said. "Would you mind escorting me?"

"Of course, your majesty." Rusl said, bowing slightly and pulling his hood over his face. "Let's go."

We both left the room and walked down the long hallway towards the smaller conference room, which was likely packed by now. I hated being late, but I didn't make it until 4:33.

When I made my entrance, everyone stood and stopped talking.

"Take your seats, please." I said. Rusl stayed in the shadows near the door. This room had a long table with chairs lining each side. Every seat was taken, and several of the lower-ranking officers were standing against the wall. There was a nervous edge to their quiet conversations now that I was here, but I was used to it.

This meeting was going to be important, which was why it was first on my itinerary. The end of the year was approaching, and we had made a goal to strike out decisively at the King's Collective rebellion before the holidays. I would now be hearing the plans for the attack.

To my surprise, my planetary defense director, Ralph, stood up. He was a younger man, probably only a few years older than me, but had already proven himself to be a master of coordination and predictions. He had spent a few years in the Army before the Planetary Defense Corps recognized his organizational talent. Through a mixture of luck and sheer talent, he had become the director last year, coordinating the orbital defense cannons and the troops dedicated to operating them.

"Your majesty, I believe we've come up with a plan you'll like." He said, bowing. "As much as you can like war, at least."

"Good, I'm looking forward to hearing it. Feel free to begin." I said.

"I'd like to start off by talking about our orbital defense grid and how we can use it as an offensive weapon, rather than keeping it strictly on the defensive side of this war.

"For those of you who aren't scientists or space junkies, we've got close to a thousand orbiting high-velocity cannons around Castle. It's basically an impenetrable wall to any invading force, and is the reason the Collective started the civil war with an attack from the surface. Once they were driven from the surface and into the fringes of the galaxy, taking Castle became impossible for them.

"Recent evidence has led most military leaders to believe that the Collective will strike out at Castle again, trying to cut the head off the Hylian Empire and take control. Most people have turned against them thanks to the steady stream of Imperial propaganda and their own unorthodox terroristic attacks. They're looking for a decisive victory to validate their cause in the eyes of the people."

"And you think they're going to assault Castle?" One of the other officers asked.

"Potentially, but we have more solid evidence that Arnav Nohansen is already hiding on Castle." Ralph said.

I knew this fact already, but apparently most of the people at the table didn't. Arnav was my half-brother, the product of my father's extramarital affair a couple years after I had been born. Rather than hiding from his heritage like most bastard children, Arnav had openly lobbied the council to become the crown king. After being rejected, he left for a distant planet, Cutov, where he mastered combat under the direction of the Gerudo warriors. He had trained for almost a decade before returning to Castle under the guise of peace. Two years later, his army attempted a coup. They were crushed quickly, and the "King's Collective" was forced off the planet. That was three years ago. The Collective had practiced every type of warfare against the empire since then, even resorting to acts of terror.

"What we'd like to do is flush him out." Ralph continued. I looked up from my thoughts, my curiosity piqued. This was something I hadn't heard about.

"How?" I asked.

"It may sound crazy, but we'd like to spread a rumor that we believe Arnav's forces are mounting a direct assault on the capital city and move the cannons into place directly above us. This will provide an opening for the Collective to move in and land in strategically poor locations. We will lay traps in these locations and deal massive casualties to the Collective troops once they offload, then move the cannons around and fire upon their ships. This will effectively eliminate their means of escape and resupply, and prevent other Collective ships from coming to the rescue."

"No way." One of the officers sitting at the other end of the table said. "Those cannons take at least a day to move around. We can't trap them that quickly."

"On the contrary," A Planetary Defense officer said, "The cannons have been upgraded with booster rockets that could cut that time down to only two or three hours, depending on the start and end points. The Collective wouldn't know this, because the repairs were done quickly and under strict, compartmentalized security clearances."

"Then should we even know about that?" The officer at the end of the table asked.

"Enough." I interjected. "You've all been determined as being on a 'need to know' basis for this, for one reason or another. Ralph, what's the ultimate goal of this plan?"

"Of course." Ralph continued. "The ultimate goal of this mission is to flush out a large portion of the King's Collective, with a focus on those who are already on the planet. Killing or capturing Arnav Nohansen would be the icing on the cake."

"Do you have the written plan with a diagram and schematics for where the cannons will be at specific times?" I asked.

"Yes, your majesty. I'll forward them to you now."

He pressed a few buttons on his tablet, and there was a ding from my earpiece. I opened the documents on the projector table in front of me. It showed detailed placement of the cannons in the present, where they would go to bait the Collective, and then where they would go to trap them on the planet. Most of the entrapments were in the desert, which would work well for us. The Gerudo Desert was a desolate place, walled in on all four sides by mountains with only a narrow canyon pass leading to the mainland.

"Obviously this is a calculated risk." Ralph said as I examined the diagrams. "But I don't believe we'll have a better chance to draw the Collective into an attack. The best case scenario is that they come in quickly, thinking that they're catching us off guard, when we begin a massive planet-wide attack. They'll be the ones caught off guard, not us.

"The expected case is that they'll be suspicious, but go through with the attempted invasion. They'll put up a good fight, but ultimately lose. The worst case is that they know that we know what we know, and this is actually a trap for us."

"I suppose that's true." I said. "How much time do I have to give you an answer? I need to consult more than just a few people about the logistics and the danger."

"I believe the optimum time to do this would be within a month." Ralph replied. I raised my eyebrows.

"Mobilizing a Castle Security assault at that large of a scale might not come together smoothly in a month." I said.

"If you give us the quick go-ahead, I'll make sure it gets done." Ralph said. I nodded.

"Very well. Give me a couple days. I'll have an answer for you."

"Thank you, your majesty."

The projectors turned off, and the lights turned back on.

"Lastly, I have a policy suggestion, your majesty." Ralph said.

"Go ahead."

"In the event of a Collective invasion like we had three years ago, we're looking at a lot of civilian deaths. Security simply can't protect them all. My suggestion is that you open up the armory to the civilians and make sure that they have weapons to defend themselves. We have twenty million extra laser weapons, and at least fifty million physical weapons in there. Plus we've still got about two hundred million that were confiscated ten years ago under your father's administration. If we put one in each household, or even gave one to every veteran, it would go a long way in preventing the Collective from being able to inflict massive casualties."

I nodded, realizing that I hadn't thought about the topic before. It was an interesting one, to say the least. My father had been adamant that no good could come out of regular citizens owning firearms, and had forced a massive confiscation. There was quite the uproar about it, but I barely remembered it all. It was something that hadn't affected me much at the time.

"I'll give it some thought." I said. "I need to talk to Spud about it, though. He's the one who unlocks the armory, and if he decides the risk is too great then he'll probably just refuse to open the doors."

Spud was the artificial intelligence that ran the day-to-day activities of the planet. He was quite helpful to me, in that he could make sure nothing slipped through the cracks. He also deferred to my authority in most cases, but the armory was not one of them. My father had given him strict orders to only obey his calculations when it came to weapons in the armory. It would take my orders and an army of hackers to be able to rescind that order, should he calculate that the risk was too great.

That being said, I didn't see anything necessarily wrong with the idea.

"Thank you, your majesty. The sooner that can get done, the better." Ralph said. "That's all I have for you."

"Very well. Meeting dismissed." I said, jotting a few notes down so that I wouldn't forget what was said. The gathered members all stood, bowed, and exited the room quietly.

"What do you think?" I asked Rusl.

"I don't see a problem with either idea, honestly." He replied. "I grew up with a rifle in the house, and my father stopped a burglary with it. Never saw any violence with guns until I joined the Marines."

"What about the trap? Any thoughts?"

"It's the best plan we've got if you want to capitalize on the intel that Arnav is on the planet and flush out the Collective."

I nodded and looked at my agenda to see what was next.

"That's weird." I muttered, staring at my tablet. "The rest of the day is cleared now. I thought I had meetings all day."

I pressed a few buttons on my tablet and connected to Shad through my neural implant.

"Didn't I have meetings for the rest of the day?" I asked, not bothering with greetings. Shad and I called each other so many times per day that we had stopped worrying about trivial things like saying hello.

"I cleared your agenda, as I'm sure you've noticed. I figured you could use the break. I also think you've heard about Lenzo getting killed in a landing accident last night. His body has been returned and his family is gathering in Castle Town for the funeral at 3:00 this afternoon. I'm sure they would appreciate if you attended, and you could potentially dispel the mystery of his military service to his wife. It will help her with closure. Of course, you're free to do what you want."

"Of course I'll go." I said. "Thank you for letting me know."

"Sure thing."

The call disconnected. Shad was my personal advisor and clerk. I also let him fill in my duties as a regent whenever I was absent or needed a break. He had the right mind for it. I greatly appreciated him making time for this funeral. I tried to make every soldier's funeral on Castle, but it didn't always work out. Since I'd had a personal connection to Lenzo, I would make absolutely sure that I could attend.

"Come on." I said to Rusl, standing up. "I need to get some food and catch up on sleep before that funeral."

…

 _These are so primitive._ I thought, looking down at the cigarette I was smoking. Another bad habit I had picked up. The news of Lenzo's death had been too much to handle, though. I grimaced as another headache washed over me, nearly blinding me with its intensity. In a few seconds, it was gone.

There were still a couple hours until the funeral started, and I had had time to shower and get some rest. The guard shift had changed, and now Sword was by my side. She had her name for a reason. She was the shortest member of the SSC, standing at just over five feet and carrying a short katana. I had never seen her face, nor did I know her real name. Any questions about her identity were either deflected or tactfully ignored. Usually I couldn't get more than a single sentence out of her at once, and today was no exception.

I caught her staring at my cigarette, although it was hard to tell since she wore a full helmet.

"You said you had quit."

I sighed and threw the cigarette into the trashcan.

"Happy?" I asked.

Sword just shrugged, so I changed the subject.

"Are your comrades going to be at the funeral?" I asked.

"Yes."

Short and sweet, just like always. I heard a ding in my earpiece, so I grabbed my tablet as I rummaged through the fridge for some food. After settling on a slightly old apple, I opened up the notification to see what was going on. It seemed that Shad had changed my agenda again. A new event was scheduled after the end of the funeral, although it was listed as optional.

 _Shad always says these things are all optional because he can't tell me what to do, but still bothers to list certain things as being more optional than others._

"VIP showing up at the airport?" I muttered to myself, confused. "Must be someone important for the queen's presence to be requested. Sword, have you heard anything about this?"

"No."

I connected to Shad, hoping to get clarification.

"Who is this VIP showing up at the airport at 6?" I asked.

"Your majesty, don't you read my emails? It's that Navy sniper that singlehandedly captured a Collective cruiser last night. 1st Armored Fleet, 36th Division. He's been nominated for the Hero of Hyrule Medal by the Secretary of the Navy and is coming into town for the council's decision next week. I thought you might want to meet him, since the award's decision has a solid chance of falling in your lap."

"Thanks for letting me know, but I'm going to pass." I said. "I'll take the chance to meet him if the council decides he deserves the award."

"Of course, your majesty. I'll take it off."

"Thanks, Shad."

After he disconnected, I shook my head.

"You'd swear they think I'm a renewable resource or something. Since when have I ever met people at the port?"

"He's never asked you to do that before today." Sword pointed out quietly.

"I'll let the council be the judge of that. I finally have a day off, and I'm not going to spend it at the port putting on a happy face for a guy who probably doesn't even want the medal. None of them ever do."

"What did he do?"

"Let's see." I said, opening my emails and finding the report Shad had sent me. It was a copy of the Hero of Hyrule citation.

"For conspicuous gallantry at extreme risk to his own life, Corporal Link White is hereby nominated-"

"Who? Link White?"

I was a little startled at Sword's interruption. She almost never spoke without first being spoken to.

"Yes, Corporal Link White." I said. "Do you know him?"

"I…yes. I did. Sorry, go on." She replied.

"Let's see… Here we go." I said. "Corporal Link White is hereby nominated as a Hero of Hyrule. On 25th Bam at 2130 hours, Corporal White boarded a King's Collective cruiser ahead of his company to provide sniper overwatch. During boarding, the company was killed by an explosion and vented into space, leaving White alone in hostile territory. Corporal White ignored orders to attempt an escape, instead conducting a single-man assault on the enemy cruiser's bridge. He succeeded in killing thirteen enemy officers, wounding the captain of the vessel, capturing the main pilot, and forcing the rest of the crew to stand down. Due to Corporal White's actions, Hylian forces were able to raid the cruiser and capture several hundred Collective sailors without any further casualties. His superb courage and heroic initiative sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the Hylian Navy, and bring great credit to our empire."

Sword stared at me for a few moments, but said nothing.

"How do you know him?" I asked curiously, hoping I could elicit some response from her.

"I'd rather not say."

"Well... okay. Are you sure it's the same guy?"

"It's something he would do."

I walked over to my computer and opened up the military records, typing in Link's name and rank.

"Here he is." I said, flicking the image over to the TV. The nomination had already appeared on his file. Sword nodded.

"That's him."

I perused the file carefully, suddenly finding myself interested in this man.

 _White, Link. Corporal. Age 23. Military Occupational Specialties- Sniper, Infantry. Special skills: Magic Level 10D+._

I had to stare at his magic level for a few moments. I had never seen anyone listed as 10+, or even a regular 10. In fact, the highest I could remember seeing in a file was an 8. 10+ was reserved for mages who were too powerful to use the magical aptitude testing equipment. I clicked on the magical abilities tab to learn more.

To my surprise, the sub-folder was empty.

 _I guess I'll have to find out more directly from him._

What concerned me was the "D" listed after his magical abilities score. The letter was to signify the type of magic the individual used, such as fire, ice, water, light, or any of the more unusual classes. The D stood for dark, which was among the uncommon types. It usually signified that the user had made a deal with a demon, although the Hylian Empire had ways to ensure those types of people couldn't join the military. That would mean he was a natural dark, which was exceedingly rare. Only light magic was rarer.

"What do you know about his magical abilities?" I asked Sword. She shrugged.

"I didn't know he could use magic."

So he was secretive about it, too. I also noticed that huge sections of the file were now missing when I switched back to the main tab. Even my computer's AI couldn't explain that one, so I closed the file and called Shad again.

"Put that VIP reception back on my itinerary. I'd like to meet him."

"Yes, your majesty."

I checked the time, and realized that I needed to leave for the funeral, so I motioned to Sword.

"Come on, let's go pay our respects."

…

Link

…

The ship jerked, nearly throwing me from my seat. An ear-splitting bang filled the cabin.

"What the hell?" I yelled, somehow saving my coffee from spilling.

"There's a problem." The pilot called back from the cockpit. "We've been interdicted."

"We've been…what?"

"Pulled out of faster than light travel. It takes a very expensive piece of machinery called an interdictor. I don't know who did it, but our FTL drive is severely overheated. I won't be able to jump for at least twenty minutes."

"Crap." I muttered to myself, and then stood up and walked to the cockpit.

"How long do we have until whoever did it gets here?" I asked. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up. My gut was trying to tell me we were in danger.

"Five to ten minutes max." The pilot replied.

"From what direction?"

"Usually interdictions happen from behind, but physics is weird when it comes to faster than light travel."

I walked to the back and sat in the control station for the main gun. It was something I had learned to use ages ago, simply because these small ships ran into pirates and Collective mercenaries quite often. I had never experienced an interdiction, though. This might be a more dangerous enemy.

"Have you ever been in combat?" I called through the ship, crossing my fingers.

"Yes." The pilot replied, his voice breaking slightly. "A couple times."

"Better than nothing." I said. "Turn the ship off and purge all heat. With any luck, they won't be able to find us and we can fire up the FTL drive before they have a chance to attack."

There was a pause.

"Before you say it, yes I realize it's going to get extremely cold in here when you turn the ship off. That's the point."

I heard a sigh from the cockpit, but the pilot did as I told him. One by one, all the systems shut down. There was a slight buzzing sound as the ship purged heat into blocks of metal and ejected them outwards at a tenth the speed of light.

"I have a bad feeling about what we're up against." I said, noticing the temperature drop immediately. I reached into my bag and pulled out my TALOS suit, quickly stripping down to my underwear and putting it on, and then suiting up for combat. For good measure, I put on my black cloak.

"If you have armor and a weapon, I'd get them ready." I said.

"You don't think we'll be able to get away?"

"No. Something is telling me we're screwed right now." I replied. "Call it paranoia, but it won't hurt to be pre-"

"Oh goddesses, look!"

I ran to the cockpit and peered out the window.

"You've got to be kidding me."

A King's Collective destroyer had just dropped out of FTL several hundred kilometers in front of us. It was enormous, and had more cannons than I could count.

"That's the Deceit of Kings." I said, forcing my nerves away. "I've run into it before. It's the flagship destroyer of the King's Collective Navy."

"What do we do?" The pilot asked, his eyes about to pop out of his head. Suddenly, all worries of the cold were gone. This ship brought nothing but death. It was responsible for the destruction of multiple Hylian vessels, including a cruiser with over ten thousand sailors on board and its escort fleet of two destroyers.

I decided not to tell the pilot about that little detail.

"With any luck, they're not going to be able to find us on their scans. And if they do find us, they may not waste time or ammunition on such a small ship." I said, maintaining optimism. High-velocity cannon ammunition was expensive.

"And if we're unlucky?" The pilot asked.

"They'll send a high-velocity MAC round through this ship and kill us. There's no use worrying about that. If they fire, we won't know until the goddesses wake us up at the gates of paradise."

Maybe that wasn't the best way to put it. This pilot was about to die of fright.

"Get a hold of yourself." I said. "How long until we can perform an FTL jump?"

"Six-sixteen minutes." He said, his teeth chattering. It wasn't because he was cold.

"Then for the next sixteen minutes, we're going to do absolutely nothing. If we make it that long, you're going to fire up the FTL drive and get us to Castle. On the way out, mark the coordinates the destroyer is at so that we can report it to Castle security when we get there. We'll beam it forward with your entanglement radio, and they can decide whether or not to send a fleet to take it down."

"It's coming towards us." The pilot said. "Oh goddesses."

A red light flashed on the monitor.

INCOMING MESSAGE

Suddenly, the ship seemed obnoxiously quiet.

"I…I think it's from them." The pilot whispered.

"Can you open it without turning the ship on?"

He pressed a few buttons, and a voice came over the speaker.

"This is King's Collective destroyer Deceit of Kings to Hylian jumpship designation alpha-one-five-one, you have been pulled from FTL travel due to a territory violation. Surrender immediately and proceed to landing bay ten, and your lives will be spared under the rules of the Hyatt Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War. Any attempt to flee will be met with lethal force."

"Shit! How did they find us?" The pilot asked.

"We have two choices." I said, ignoring the question. "We could wait and hope they don't get to us before the FTL drive cools down, or we can try to get the FTL drive running without cooling it down."

"Impossible. The AI won't allow the FTL drive to be used for another fourteen minutes and thirty seconds. It would explode if we tried to use it early."

"Then we wait." I said simply. "Display no signs of human life aboard and they may decide we're not worth pursuing. Even if they do, they won't waste a MAC round on a ship this small. They'd send smaller ships out to get us."

"But what will we do if they reach us first?"

"We're going to activate the Final Farewell Protocol." I said, shrugging. "What else can we do?"

The pilot sighed, but nodded.

"I have a kid on the way." He said, almost to himself. "My wife is eight months in. I was going back to Castle with you for parental leave."

I patted him on the back, hoping to reassure him.

"We're not dead yet. Just a few minutes until we're safe."

The Final Farewell Protocol was standard practice for pilots who were hopelessly outmatched by a larger, faster, more heavily armored, and more heavily armed ship. Once activated, the ship's AI would determine the weakest point in the armor of the enemy ship and activate a beacon. The ship would then accelerate to 50% the speed of light and slam into the weak point, attaching the beacon in the process. The exact location of the enemy vessel would be beamed to the nearest fleet, which would in turn fire an appropriately sized barrage of missiles that were locked onto the coordinates. It had never failed in the past, although it had never been used in a situation like this.

"This is King's Collective destroyer Deceit of Kings to Hylian jumpship designation alpha-one-five-one, you have been pulled from FTL travel due to a territory violation. Surrender immediately. You have thirty seconds before boarding ships are dispatched."

"How long will it take them to get here?" I asked.

"Three or four minutes, maybe." The pilot replied. "Should I initiate Final Farewell?"

"No. Let's see if they're bluffing."

They weren't. Thirty seconds later an outside bay door opened and four interceptors flew out.

"I'm estimating three minutes to intercept time." The pilot said.

"Is there a place you can hide on this ship?" I asked. "I have my cloaking. If they board us and don't find anyone here, they might leave the ship to float. If they do that, we'll be able to escape."

"I have a crawlspace that isn't on the blueprints, so the Collective won't know about it." The pilot replied. "It's pressurized, so I'll be able to survive for a little bit if they leave us floating."

"Get into it." I said, activating my cloaking and retrieving my Supernova from the back. "Don't move. Don't make any noise. Don't breathe if you don't have to."

There was a muffled banging from the front, and I heard a metal panel open.

"What's your name?" I asked, just in case.

"Sterling." The pilot replied. "I'm going under now. Say the word 'banana' when it's safe to come up."

"Got it." I said. I decided I would spend the rest of the time making the ship look unoccupied.

The pilot was spot on with his prediction. In almost exactly three minutes, there was a muffled thump as a boarding bridge connected to our jumpship, and I jumped down into a corner. The bridge was used as a walkway and as a means to prevent the boarded ship from losing pressure when the door was pried open. Once the bridge was pressurized, I could hear the hum of the other ship's engine. The idea crossed my mind to try to kill the boarding team, but I decided to stick to the original plan. If the pilot of the interceptor realized what was going on, he'd simply vent the bridge and open fire on our ship.

There was a rattling on the armored door, and I heard a saw power up. It took only seconds for the hinges on the door to pop off. They were made to hold under vacuum, not to resist human inventions.

The door fell over as the lock was severed, and a two-man team rolled through. They swept the room quickly and efficiently. One of them stood less than a meter away from me, but couldn't see me.

"Clear."

"Clear."

I breathed a silent sigh of relief. They hadn't caught Sterling, and we might be able to get away if they bought our ruse. I had another plan, but that would only be for when things really got bad.

"I wonder why they went through the trouble of pulling this little thing out of slipspace." One of the Collective team members said, almost to himself. "Doesn't seem like it's worth the time or energy."

"You didn't read the flash report, did you?" The other one asked. "They thought there was a big shot on here. Something came from Castle and we picked it up on the comms. Remember that cruiser that was on the news after its crew killed the whole boarding party that was raiding it? The one survivor shot up the bridge and captured everyone else on board."

"They thought he was on this ship?"

"Yeah, but it looks like this thing was an empty decoy."

"And command decided to send just two of us up against a guy who captured a whole cruiser on his own? And they didn't even bother to tell me exactly what was going on?"

There was a moment of silence between the two men. At least I wasn't the only one with idiots in charge of me.

"Well, good thing it was empty, right?"

One of them laughed nervously. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Whatever, come on. You know how to fly these, right?"

"Yeah I think so. Let's get it back."

I looked at my watch, visible only through the eyes of my TALOS suit, and swore to myself. We still had six minutes until the FTL drive was good to go, and these guys were going to capture the ship. We should have put on our suits, initiated Final Farewell, and jumped ship with a beacon. A Hylian rescue ship could have been here in less than an hour, assuming the massive destroyer didn't shoot it down.

I was now faced with the very real possibility of ending up on the enemy destroyer, and needed to decide what to do. Assuming that happened, the best idea would be to stay put until we were caught or we had an opportunity to escape. Since they thought this ship was empty, that would make escaping easier. The problem with escaping is that the destroyer could easily shoot us down as we made it to a non-mass locked distance. We would have to be several hundred kilometers away from the destroyer before we'd be able to go into slipspace. In fact, we may not have been able to make the jump from where we were when we were boarded.

The other alternative was to steal an enemy fighter and have Sterling pilot us out in that. The IFF tag wouldn't flag in the command module of the destroyer, and we'd have a much better chance of escaping in one piece.

 _I could use magic._ I thought, dreading it. I only used my magic in the most dire circumstances because of its destructive effects on my mental state, but this was quickly getting out of hand.

"What the hell is that?"

"What?"

"Under the floor in the cockpit. I just ran a heat scan and there's something down there."

It was time to act. I stood and drew my handgun, firing two shots to the face of the Collective pilot, who was standing in the front and looking at his companion closer to me. Instinctively, the other soldier turned, dropping his heat scanner and raising his rifle. I dispatched him with another two shots.

"Banana!" I shouted, feeling like an idiot. We were really in it now.

This was bad.

"Link!" Sterling yelled from the front, crashing through the floor panel. "We still have five minutes. What do we do?"

I heard a slight buzz from the earpiece of one of the dead soldiers and pulled it out.

"Get in that seat." I said. "I'm going to get them to retract the bridge, and then convince them the controls are fried. Get this ship ready to jump. Don't worry about me, okay?"

"Okay." Sterling replied, sitting down in the pilot's seat. He pressed a few buttons, and the engine fired up. I put the earpiece to my ear, ignoring the sickly feeling of the blood splatter on it.

"-tags are reading deceased. What is your status, over?"

I took a deep breath.

"We're good, flight lead." I said, glad I had brushed up on King's Collective call signs and radio etiquette a few weeks ago. "We're having an issue with the controls. It looks like they were partially fried when the craft got pulled from slipspace. Zapped us both pretty good when we got in here."

There was a brief pause, and my adrenaline skyrocketed. If they figured out my classic radio ruse, we'd probably be killed immediately.

"Roger that, bravo team. Do you guys need help in there?"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Negative, flight lead. We'll be up and running in the next five minutes."

I wiped the blood off the earpiece and worked it away from the dead soldier, securing it to myself before going up to the cockpit.

"210 seconds until the FTL drive is cooled, but we're mass locked to that destroyer." Sterling said.

"I figured we would be. That's why we can't just wait for the FTL drive to cool." I said. "How many kilometers are we from the cleared zone?"

"Only about ten."

"I'm going to reseal the door and tell them to retract the bridge." I said. "Then I need you to jerk the stick and make it look like we accidentally started moving backwards. I'll work the radio and make sure they don't catch on to what we're doing. By the time we cross those ten kilometers, we should be cleared to jump. Is this thing still locked into Castle?"

"Yeah, we're good to jump once we're cool enough and out of the mass locked zone."

"Flight lead, we're going to seal the door and prepare for flight." I said into the radio.

"Good copy, bravo team. Let us know when you're ready for bridge separation."

I walked over to the door, which was barely hanging on the hinges, and pressed the emergency seal button. Slowly, several electromagnets pulled it back into place. With a hiss, the cabin sealed and pressurized.

"160 seconds." Sterling called from the front. I waited twenty seconds before calling over the radio again.

"Flight lead, the cabin is secured. Ready for bridge detachment."

"Good copy, bravo team. Detaching bridge in five."

There was a slight buzzing sound before the bridge detached and our jumpship returned to near silence, alone in the vacuum of space.

"Good detachment, bravo team. Flight lead standing by to assist."

"Roger, flight lead. We're almost done with repairs to the cockpit. Going to attempt to fly in two minutes."

"Copy. Out."

I walked back to the cockpit where Sterling was waiting.

"Whenever you're ready." I said. "I think we should wait until the countdown is almost over, though. I don't want to have to wait once we aren't mass locked. Might be hard to explain over the radio."

"90 seconds." Sterling said, nodding. He looked up at the destroyer nervously. We waited in silence until there were 20 seconds left on the clock.

"Ready?" I asked.

In response, Sterling jerked back on the control stick. The engine purred, and we rocketed backwards.

"Flight lead, we're experiencing technical difficulties. Attempting to reorient." I said over the radio.

In a last second stroke of genius, I ran to the main gun. Quickly, I opened the control panel, selected a homing beacon, and switched over to the display. The Collective boarding ship was already in my sights.

"Six…five…four…three…" Sterling muttered, counting down the distance in kilometers.

"Come on…" I said, watching the clock. With one second left, I fired the beacon. I wouldn't have time to see if it hit.

"Go!" I shouted. Sterling smashed the launch button on the control screen, and the jumpship turned slightly right and up, aiming for Castle. With a flash of light, we dropped into slipspace.

All was silent in the cockpit for several seconds, until Sterling finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not yet." I said. "I don't think the destroyer can jump yet, but it's within the realm of possibility. How long until we're at Castle?"

"Twenty minutes, max." Sterling replied. "I've got this thing powered up as fast as it will go. It'll probably blow the FTL drive when we drop out of slipspace, but I don't care."

I sat back down at the weapons station and opened the entanglement radio, beaming a call forward to Castle Orbital Fleet.

"Ghost-five to Castle Orbital Fleet, come in." I said, praying they answered.

"This is Castle Orbital Fleet. Go ahead."

"Fleet, we were just interdicted by King's Collective destroyer Deceit of Kings. We escaped, and I fired a homing beacon at the boarding craft. It should be returning to the destroyer soon. I sent the GPS link with this message. Did you receive?"

"Affirmative, ghost-five. Solid receipt. Good work. The cannons are turning to fire right now. Waiting on approval."

I took a deep breath and sat back in my seat.

That was a job well done.

…

Zelda

…

It was ten minutes past six, and I was beginning to get impatient. The funeral had put me in a bad mood, and now a corporal with no sense of time was holding me up. Of course he couldn't have known that I was here, but it frustrated me nonetheless. There were a few dozen people here at the port with me, most of who were just waiting for other ships and were intrigued by the public announcement.

I was startled when the sky lit up above the atmosphere as if the sun had duplicated itself.

 _Holy crap!_ I thought, jumping. There was a lot of murmuring around me.

"Are the cannons firing?" I asked Sword, who was still dressed in her black cloak and armor despite my protests. It was hard to go undercover with such an obvious bodyguard.

"Yes. All of them at once."

The sky lit up once more, causing me to jump again.

"Shad." I said, connecting to his neural link. "What's going on? Why are the cannons going off?"

"I don't know, your majesty. It's probably just working its way up the chain of command right now."

"Spud." I said, switching the call. "Why are the cannons going off right now?"

Spud's mechanical voice came in at the same time as one of my brief, blinding headaches. This was the worst one yet. I almost didn't hear what he said.

"-Deceit of Kings, and the cannons are-"

"Say that again, please."

"The VIP coming in at six attached a homing beacon to the King's Collective destroyer Deceit of Kings, and the cannons are firing in response."

The cannons fired a third time. I would have to worry about the details later. If the Navy could destroy the Deceit of Kings, that would be the removal of a huge thorn in my side.

Spud's voice came through my link again.

"First volley impact confirmed."

My eyes went wide. That alone was incredible news, assuming the rounds hit what they were targeting. 'Impact' simply means they hit something that wasn't far behind the intended target.

"Second volley impact confirmed."

About ten seconds passed before Spud came through again.

"Third volley partial impact confirmed."

I calmed my nerves, resigning myself to wait for the official results. With a target like the Deceit of Kings, it was likely that an entire fleet would mobilize to confirm its destruction. There was nothing I could do but wait.

As I was thinking, I noticed a lone jumpship off in the distance. The airspace had been cleared, so this had to be the VIP. The ship wound downwards in a lazy spiral, smoking slightly.

 _That thing really got pushed to the limits on the way here._ I thought.

It took several more minutes for the VIP's ship to reach the port. When it landed, the door opened only a crack. The officer standing by to welcome the VIP walked up, confused, and then nodded as if someone were talking to him. He turned and motioned a few of the port guards forward.

"Can you go figure out what's going on?" I asked Sword. Before she could do anything, though, the airport police started moving the onlookers out of the area, herding them towards the doors to the inside.

"Would you like to go up and see?" Rifle asked. I nodded, and we worked our way to the edge of the crowd.

"Move inside, please." An officer said, stopping us. Sword whispered a few words to him. He glanced over at me, and then let us through to the open tarmac.

"What's going on?" I asked another officer.

"Imperial business, please move…oh." The officer said, realizing who I was once he looked at my face. "My apologies, your majesty. They've got enemy deceased in the ship, and we're trying to get their bodies returned to the families. It looks pretty bad in there."

There was a cracking noise, and the cockpit glass popped off the ship and dropped to the tarmac. A man in a flight suit fell out, rolling when he hit the ground. Behind him, Link White leapt out, landing lightly on his feet. His rifle was on his back, and he was wearing everything but the helmet of his TALOS exosuit.

 _That must be the VIP._ I thought, looking at him curiously. His arms were covered in blood. He turned to look at me, and I felt his aura.

 _That's…_

There was no way.

"Do you feel that?" I asked Sword. She nodded, every muscle in her body tense. Her hand was already on the hilt of her katana.

Only a magic user would have sensed it. These other people were blissfully unaware, but Sword and I knew what was standing in front of us.

This man was no ordinary soldier. His magical aura was greater than any person I had ever met, threatening to unravel time and matter at any moment. I felt certain that if this man wanted to wipe this city off the face of the planet, he could do so with the snap of his fingers. But this wasn't just the most powerful aura I had ever felt.

It was also the most evil.

…

 **Please review! I'll get working editing the next one. I've gone ahead and removed all the unedited chapters, but they'll be coming back out soon.**


	3. Part 1 Chapter 3

**For my old readers who don't want to reread this chapter, just scroll to the bottom. I've included all the major edits. All the main points in this chapter are the same, but it was VERY heavily edited to flow better and set up the plot more thoroughly, so it may be worth it to give it another read.**

Chapter 3

Zelda

Link stared at me for several seconds, but it felt like an eternity. His aura was causing me physical distress, and I realized it was hard to breathe. Finally he waved his hand, and a brief flash of yellow light alleviated the negative effects I was experiencing. His aura was still present, but it was no longer overwhelming to me. Sword immediately sprang into action, approaching him and drawing her katana.

"Get on the ground." She said, pressing her weapon to his chest. Link sighed quietly, but complied.

"Am I being arrested?" He asked.

"You just used magic on the Queen of Hyrule, so yes."

"Oh you've _got_ to be kidding me. That's the queen?!"

He swore as Sword handcuffed him, but didn't resist. I had a feeling that the handcuffs wouldn't have a prayer of holding him if he decided to break free, and they barely made a dent in the strength of his aura despite their enchantments.

Sword brought him up to his knees so he could face me.

"What did you just do to me?" I demanded, sounding a lot more confident than I felt.

"I relieved your body's natural aversion to my magic so that you wouldn't pass out." He replied. "The average magic user wouldn't last five seconds standing that close to me, but I've found a simple spell to help."

"Have you ever considered suppressing your aura?" I asked, peeved at the simplicity of the solution.

"Yes, your majesty. That _is_ my suppressed aura."

I stared at him for a few moments, not wanting to believe what he had just said but knowing it was true. How could a suppressed aura be that overwhelmingly powerful?

"Corporal White, you're under arrest for felony assault with magic." Sword said. "You can save your argument for the judge."

He sighed again, but just nodded. With a quiet pop, Rauru appeared behind me. As the SSC's dedicated mage, he was the most appropriate person to deal with this situation. Sword had likely called him the second we felt Link's aura.

"Oh my." I heard him mutter. "This is a little unexpected."

Fortunately, it didn't seem that Rauru's interference would be necessary. Sword brought Link to his feet, and then handed him off to her companion. I was glad he was going quietly. It would certainly help his case.

I realized at that moment that I didn't want Link to get in legal trouble, so I put my hand on Rauru's shoulder as he walked past.

"Why don't we just forget about this?" I asked him quietly. "He was being helpful, and he couldn't have known who I was. Plus he's here because he was nominated as a Hero of Hyrule, so we shouldn't be treating him like this."

"I still need to talk to him, but I'll make take these handcuffs off if you're going to pardon him." Rauru responded.

"Yeah, this doesn't feel right. Release him."

Rauru nodded and waved his hand, causing the handcuffs to open and drop to the ground. Link looked back at me and nodded appreciatively.

"You're still going to go with me." Rauru said. "But the queen has decided to pardon your crime, so you're no longer under arrest."

"What am I going with you for, then?"

"To talk."

Link looked at me for a brief moment, and then winked.

"Your majesty, your kindness is matched only by your beauty."

I stared at him for a moment, but he just grinned and turned around. Now that I wasn't so terrified, I could examine his appearance a little closer. The picture I had seen on his file was taken when he was 17, and he was now 23. The difference was drastic. His eyes had the look of someone who had seen too much war, and there were already wrinkles forming on his forehead. There were various scars and burn marks just on his head and neck, and a patch of his scalp was missing hair where he had been hit by a glancing blow from a bullet. Despite this, he obviously kept up with himself. He was clean and well groomed, and I could tell he was quite muscle-bound underneath his armor. I found myself hoping that the Council would approve his award so I had an excuse to talk to him more. I wanted to know his story, and I had plenty of questions about his magic.

"Let's get this talk over with." He told Rauru, who nodded and led him away.

Sword retrieved her handcuffs and sheathed her katana before coming to stand beside me again.

"That was… interesting." I said.

She stared after Rauru and Link as they walked across the tarmac.

"He's always been interesting."

I glanced at her, but knew I wouldn't get more of an explanation even if I asked, so I dropped it.

"Come on, I want to get some sleep tonight."

…

Link

…

I found myself sitting at a table in a dimly lit room in the castle. It was a typical interrogation tactic, and I had been in this position enough times to not be worried. If things started getting hairy, I'd make a way out for myself. It would be awkward to explain to my chain of command later, but life would go on. Interestingly enough, none of my weapons had been confiscated. Even though I wasn't under arrest anymore, I had figured I'd never be allowed carry firearms around the city, and especially not the castle.

The only things that concerned me a little bit were the seven people sitting across the table from me. They all looked a little bit pissed, and I had gathered that they were Queen Zelda's other guards. Rauru, the mage who had brought me here, was with them.

They were interesting, to say the least. The group included a Gerudo warrior, a Zora, and an absolute mountain of a man who probably could have stood up to a small Goron in a wrestling match. There was also a redhead that I had to be careful not to stare at, because she was even more attractive than the queen. She had remained silent so far, looking as stoic as the rest of them.

"So you just cast magic on every mage that detects your aura?" Rauru asked, frowning.

I nodded.

"It's physically dangerous for a mage to stand in my aura if I don't. You seven seem like you can withstand it a little longer, but I'm sure you're all feeling the effects right now. It's probably getting harder to breathe, and you're all feeling a little light-headed. If you want, I can help with that."

"That…" Rauru started, but he shrugged. He was obviously having a difficult time being in the same room as me. "That would help. I suppose you haven't given us any reason to think you want to hurt us."

I waved my hand, and all seven of the guards immediately relaxed, breathing sighs of relief. They didn't look so angry now.

"Sorry, guys. I wish I didn't have that effect on fellow magicians, but that's life."

"Can you explain why your aura is so…evil? I understand that you're a natural dark magic user, but I've never met someone whose aura is so overpowering even when suppressed." Rauru said.

"I don't know, to be honest." I replied. "I know none of you will believe that, but it's the truth. It just sort of… unlocked when I joined the military. When I was going through magical aptitude testing in Navy basic training, the machine they were using tapped into something and I've had insane magical abilities since then. The problem is that it's dark magic, and everyone assumes I made a pact with an extremely powerful demon. It's been proven multiple times that that's not the case."

"Yes, we would know if you had." Rauru said. "And interestingly enough, I believe you. The question that comes to mind now is how well you can use that magical power in combat. Having overwhelming magical ability is one thing. Being able to direct that energy under pressure is a completely different challenge."

"I can direct it fairly well." I said. "I'm not a dedicated mage, although I probably should have gone that route. I never learned to control magic with pinpoint precision, but I've got enough of a reservoir that I can overcome my inefficiency. I prefer to handle combat with my rifle, though."

"You're hiding something." The Gerudo said, speaking up for the first time.

I scowled at her.

"Yeah, everyone is hiding something." I said, keeping my voice calm. "I don't need to tell you guys every detail of my life here."

She was onto me, though. What they didn't know was that even though I had never made a pact with a demon for my magic, it had nearly driven me crazy with its sentience. During my first few months of learning how to use it, it had spoken to me constantly. It was a constant voice in my head, begging me to let it take control, offering me power, planting hatred in my mind. Eventually I had realized that using my magic only made the voice stronger and gave it more control over my body, so I had learned to only tap into my power in emergencies. If I only used it once or twice a week, the voice wouldn't speak to me much.

I didn't need to tell that to a bunch of strangers, though.

I realized that my annoyance at this Gerudo was actually causing the room to crackle with electricity, so I closed my eyes and force myself to calm down. This was something I had to be careful with.

"I don't think we need to push for too many details." Rauru said, touching the metal table to discharge the static. "Like I said, you're not under arrest. We just wanted to know a little more about you."

"What else do you want to know?" I asked.

"I was curious about your file." The Zora said. "I tried to pull it, but most of it is blacked out. The sections I could access were extremely vague."

"Yes." I said.

"Would you care to explain?"

"Not particularly."

"We have the highest security clearance in the military. You don't have to worry about exposing classified information to us." Rauru said. "We also don't have a need-to-know requirement."

I just stared at them.

"Very well, I see we're not getting anywhere with that. Give us a moment, please." Rauru said.

All seven guards filed out of the room quietly, closing the steel door behind them but leaving it unlocked.

I sat back in my chair and sighed. I had been hoping to go to my hotel room and sleep, but this was taking a long time. I was tired from the stress of being interdicted by a Collective destroyer, so I closed my eyes for a few moments. Before I knew it, the redhead was shaking me awake.

"Let's go." She said.

I sat up quickly, looking around the room. The redhead was the only person there.

"Sorry." I said, standing up. "It's been a long week."

"It's okay." She replied. "I've been there. I'm taking you somewhere, so grab your helmet and rifle. What caliber is that Supernova?"

"It's a standard 8.6x70mm." I said. "Where are you taking me that I'll need ammunition?"

She opened a locker on the wall and pulled out three boxes of ammo, tossing them to me.

"We're going target shooting. Don't ask why, just come with me."

"Oh, well if that's all…" I said, walking over to the door and opening it. I was relieved. When people handed me ammo, they usually wanted me to kill someone.

The redhead walked out, and I followed her, taking a moment to observe her more closely. She was fairly tall for a female, and she moved with an incredible amount of balance. Her armor was form fitting, and she looked like a supermodel wearing it.

 _Not many people can pull off looking that attractive in armor._

Her fiery red hair extended down to her shoulder blades, which was interesting. Most women in combat positions kept their hair short, but this girl was the exception. She must have been very confident in her abilities.

"My name is Malon." She said as we walked down a long hallway. "I'm sure you figured this out already, but we're the queen's personal task force. Most of the time we're just guarding her, but we sometimes go out on special missions. We're called the Special Services Corps, and I'm the pilot."

I quietly wondered why she was telling me all this, but decided to keep my thoughts to myself.

"Anyways, I'm going to take you out to Hyrule Field and you're going to shoot at some targets. After that, I'll take you wherever you were going before we detained you." She continued. "Probably the military hotel, right?"

"Yeah, I need about three days of sleep." I said.

We walked outside to the back lawn of the castle, which was absolutely enormous. There was a gunship waiting on a concrete pad, and Malon motioned me onto it. I buckled into the copilot's seat and we took off. Soon, we were flying over massive stretches of empty fields. The trip lasted only until Caste Town disappeared over the horizon, which didn't take long.

"Get your rifle and go back there." Malon said. "There's a target at two-thousand meters. I want you to shoot it five times."

I unbuckled and grabbed my rifle from the rack above the cockpit door. I had spent some of the trip loading the magazine, so I just had to insert it and load a round into the chamber. My rifle's on-board computer immediately recognized that these were high pressure rounds designed for long distance shooting, and the scope's reticle adjusted accordingly.

"Can you see the target?" Malon called back over the hum of the engines.

I flipped the visor down on my helmet and turned on my sniper vision, zooming in on the red target. It was actually at about 2100 meters, but that wouldn't be a huge problem for me.

Two kilometers was a long ways to shoot, but certainly not the max range of modern-day projectile weapons. I thought about the gravity first. Castle had about two percent higher gravity than the planet I had gone to sniper school on, so I would have to adjust slightly for that. If I remembered correctly, acceleration due to gravity was 10.67 meters per second squared. I mentally adjusted for the change in drop, and then moved on.

The air pressure and humidity here were optimal for shooting, so that wouldn't be a problem.

The Coriolis Effect was definitely going to affect my shot placement. This planet had a fairly standard rotation, and I was firing east. I was relieved when I realized that the rotation of the planet would cancel out the changes I had made due to the higher gravity.

I looked down and did a quick estimate that the transport ship was hovering one hundred meters off the ground. That would raise my bullet placement because the round would actually cover less distance, so I made another quick adjustment.

Surprisingly, wind was almost negligible. I saw a slight gust about a thousand meters out, so I aimed two inches left of the center of the target and engaged the TALOS suit's aim assist. Instantly, my arms stopped swaying and I was able to focus on acquiring the small red target.

I took up the trigger and breathed out. One break. I paused, getting my heartbeat in rhythm, and squeezed the trigger.

I watched as the bullet arced high over the fields, drastically slowing down and dropping as it reached its target. Finally, the target bounced back and dropped to the ground.

 _Good. Do it exactly the same the next four times._

Muscle memory kicked in, and I let off four more rounds in rapid succession. All four hit within a few centimeters of each other on the target.

"Okay, now fire three rounds at the target three thousand meters away." Malon called back. "It's directly behind the first target."

I moved my rifle up until I could see the second target. Three thousand meters was beyond the max range of most rifles, but the Supernova Model 4 was one of the best sniper rifles available. If this was supposed to be a challenge, Malon wasn't giving me enough credit. It only took a few seconds to get my scope adjusted and fire off another round.

I saw the bullet strike slightly lower than center-mass on the target, so I adjusted up and fired two more rounds. Both of them hit the bullseye.

"Now hit the one at four thousand meters."

I looked past the second target, and realized I could barely see the third target at maximum zoom. This was going to be interesting. I had never tried a four thousand meter shot, and the Supernova's manufacturer certainly didn't advertise it as being able to do something like that. Despite that, though, I wasn't going to fail in front of a girl as pretty as Malon.

 _If I had to make this shot to save someone's life, where would I aim?_ I thought to myself, crunching numbers in my head. At this distance, I had to adjust all my calculations for the three thousand meter shot by a factor of how long the bullet would be in the air, how fast it would be going, and where the target would _actually_ be by the time it got there. This was an exponentially more difficult shot than the second one.

Finally, I made an educated guess and aimed several hundred meters above the target, using my scope's target acquisition assistance so that I didn't actually have to see the target in my scope's field of view and would still be able to aim directly above it. I breathed out and squeezed slowly. There was a loud crack, and the bullet was away.

It took eight seconds for the round to impact the target, and I was legitimately surprised when it did. I could hear Malon laughing in the cockpit.

"Sweet goddesses, dude. You're insane." She said. "Come on, that's all I need to see."

I made my way back into the cockpit, unloaded my rifle, and sat back down.

"So what was that about?" I asked curiously.

"You'll see." Malon replied. "But I'm afraid I told you a little bit of a lie. I can't take you to your hotel until after I take you back to Rauru at the shack."

"The shack?" I asked, a little sketched out by the sound of it.

I never received an answer, though. As quickly as the gunship had left the city, we were back. This time we landed on the other side of the castle's back lawn where a small concrete building sat in the corner. Malon ushered me inside and shut the door behind me.

I was now standing in what looked like a kitchen attached to a large living room. There was a hallway that led further back into the building, ending in stairs that went down into the basement. I guessed that there were bedrooms down there.

"How did it go?" Rauru asked Malon. She nodded.

"He hit every single one." She replied.

Rauru peered at me for a second. The other members of the SSC started coming out of their bedrooms to see me again, this time with curiosity on their faces.

"Well this is a first." Rauru said. "Not even Lenzo could hit the 4000. But I guess that settles the question of whether or not you can hit those longer shots, Link."

"Was that ever doubted?" I asked. "I've got the third-highest kill count in the Navy."

"We needed to verify, regardless. Your competition record speaks to your abilities in every other regard, but sometimes there's no way to take someone out except to fly just over the horizon and shoot them from several thousand meters away. You've never done anything like that in a competition, so I just wanted to make sure."

"For what purpose?" I asked, confused as to why the queen's guards were testing me.

 _Unless…_

 _No way._

"We've run into an issue, and we think you're the person to solve it." Rauru said. "We lost our sniper yesterday, and you were on our short list to be evaluated by the SSC. Typically, though, we do those evaluations before the previous guy retires so that we're never missing a position. Due to Lenzo's death, we need to fill this spot as quickly as possible. You're the first pick for the position, and you happened to fall into our lap this evening. I apologize for Sword's actions. She didn't realize that Impa and I were going to make an offer to you."

I looked over at the tall, dark-skinned woman who was obviously Impa. She had white hair and a red symbol surrounding her left eye. Despite her young appearance, she carried herself like a much older, wiser woman. Her weapon of choice seemed to be a two-handed sword as long as she was tall.

She nodded when she saw me look at her.

"I'm the current commander of the SSC. Rauru is my executive officer." She said. Her voice was too deep for a female, but too high for a male. She intrigued me, but my questions would have to wait.

"So… you're asking me to be one of the queen's personal guards?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Yes." Rauru said. "You're the obvious fit for our opening based on your history, skills, and magical ability. "You'll be offered housing, healthcare, vacation time, double retirement points, and everything you need for your job. The salary is set at 1 million rupees per year."

 _Sweet goddesses._

"So I'll still be in the military if I take this job?" I asked.

"Yes. We're considered a special operations group, so we have the freedom to run this place how we want and still receive the benefits of being in the military." Impa said. "I'm getting the impression that you'd like to join."

"Well, yes." I said. "But I'm not sure. Would you mind if I stepped outside and made a call?"

"Of course. We understand that this is a big decision that you can't just make on the spot. Why don't you go to your hotel and think it over tonight?" Rauru suggested. "Come back here tomorrow and give us your answer."

I nodded, looking at the gathered members in the room. I already knew what my answer would be, but I needed to make sure that this would mesh well with my other plans.

"Okay, well I'll be back in the morning." I said carefully. I didn't want them to know I wasn't actually having difficulty deciding.

Malon opened the door and gestured.

"I'll get you to the hotel." She said. "It's not far from here, but you'll need one of us present to walk around the castle freely anyways."

I nodded appreciatively. I hadn't thought as far forward as actually finding the hotel I was supposed to be staying in.

"We'll be looking forward to your decision." Rauru said as I walked out. I waved politely and then took my leave, followed by Malon.

Rather than getting in the gunship, she led me across the lawn.

"I know this is a shock." She said tentatively. "They just told us about you this morning, so I'm right there with you. It seems like a rush to make an offer just a day after Lenzo was killed, but they've been keeping an eye on you for a while and they both know what they're doing. Plus the salary is no joke."

I chuckled a little bit.

"Yeah, I don't know what I'd do with all that money." I said. "Although I'm not making my decision based on that. I have pretty cheap tastes anyways, so money doesn't matter to me."

"I know. Impa wouldn't have picked you if it did." Malon said. "But on that note, what _does_ matter to you?"

 _Revenge._

It was true, but I wasn't going to say anything. That was one of those things that I kept to myself.

"I just like to make a difference in peoples' lives." I said, shrugging. "If I can help one person every day, then I've lived a good life."

Malon glanced over at me, grinning.

"Do you tell that lie to yourself, too?"

"No, not really. But most people fall for it. Gets the warm, fuzzy feelings going." I said.

Malon laughed.

"I'll respect your secrecy. Like you said earlier, we're all hiding things. I don't know why, but I feel like I can trust you."

"Are you putting a sales pitch on me?" I asked.

"What? No, of course not! But if I told you I had a set of TALOS Mark III armor lying around in the shack, would you be more inclined to accept Impa's offer?"

"Absolutely, yes." I admitted. "Although I'm going to join if I can regardless of whatever amazing prototype armor you offer me."

"And I'm assuming the reason you're so secretive is the same reason you aren't sure whether or not you can join?" She asked.

I was about to deny it, but she had already caught me.

"Yes, but please don't dig any further than that." I said. "It's nothing malicious, so there's no need to worry."

By this point we had reached the western castle gate that led to the city. I could hear the noise of a busy weekend echoing across the moat, and I suddenly realized just how tired I was. If I didn't find a bed soon, Malon was going to have to carry me.

"Well, the hotel is down here." Malon said, dropping the subject and leading me across the bridge. "I took the liberty of moving you from that awful military-contracted hotel into the city's 5-star."

We took a left out of the gate, and the magnitude of this city's nightlife hit me. There were thousands of people walking around the streets, eating in restaurants, and drinking in the bars.

"This is the entertainment district, or West District, of the city." Malon explained. "The middle and upper class families tend to live in the North District. The lower class families typically live in the South District. The East District is where all the industries are. Of course, people aren't restricted to those districts. There are people who live here in the West District, for example. But those are just the trends."

"Hopefully I'll remember that in the morning." I said.

We walked in the doors of a large hotel. I was so tired I didn't even bother reading the name. The people inside did a double take at the sight of two fully-armed soldiers walking in, but otherwise there wasn't much of a reaction.

"Room for Link White." I heard Malon say to the clerk. I was basically a walking zombie by this point."

I was handed a key, and Malon ushered me to the elevator.

"Are you okay? You look like you're about to throw up." She said as the doors closed.

"I'll be fine. I just need sleep." I said. "And probably some food. I've been on missions for the past month, so I don't think I've gotten near enough sleep as I need."

We made it to the eighth floor quickly. Fortunately my room was near the elevator, and I made it in without incident.

"Okay, this is where I'll take my leave." Malon said. "Hopefully we'll be hearing good news from you in the morning."

"Thanks for bringing me here." I said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Malon nodded and shut the door. I remained standing for the moment, knowing my call needed to happen now.

I opened my phone and switched it to the highest level of encryption possible, then dialed my commander.

"What's up, Link?"

Umbra. I knew nothing about her except for her callsign and that she had a Gerudo accent. Of course, that just meant that she was from Planet Cutov, which was where the Gerudo lived. She could be a Hylian who had grown up there. She gave me an occasional mission, but mostly just checked up on me.

"You're going to be interested in this." I said. "But I don't know how well this works with my position. I got offered a spot in a different special operations group."

"Another?" Umbra asked, surprised. "What is it?"

"The Special Services Corps." I said. "It's the queen's-"

"Her personal guard. Yeah." Umbra said. "This is convenient, actually. Are you going to take the position?"

"Yeah, as long as you say I can."

"Well, I don't control your life since you're a reservist now. But I've been monitoring that group to double check on their allegiance to the queen. It never hurts to be careful, and I'm not sure how much I like their internal hiring process. If someone managed to get there with bad intentions, it would be easy to slowly replace every member with people hostile to the queen. Or simply kill her. She trusts each of them to a fault."

I understood her concerns.

"Would you feel better if I did some snooping around for you?" I asked.

"Yes. If you're going to accept their offer, it would be a big help to us. I'd like you to fill out a dossier on each of the other eight members so that I know what's going on there. I want standard operating procedures, technology reports, types of operations, and anything else you think would be helpful."

"Got it." I said. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, one more thing." Umbra said. "Watch the Gerudo carefully. Report _everything_ she does. Every time she goes away on a mission, summaries of your conversations, what times she's guarding the queen, what she does in her free time. You get the idea, right?"

"Yeah, I see what you're saying." I replied. "But why? Do you think she's a bad apple?"

"No, I just want to make sure. It's a little more personal with her."

"Okay." I said, knowing better than to press for more information.

"So you're going to accept the offer?"

"Yeah, it's got a lot of nice benefits and I think I'll enjoy the job. It's got to be more relaxed than my current one."

"Yeah, it is." Umbra said. "They get paid a lot, work twenty hours per week, and go on vacation all the time. You're going to get bored."

"I don't mind being bored." I said. "I'm tired of killing people."

"I know, I've heard it before. That's why you left the main force after we put all that money into you."

"You said when I got recruited that I could leave whenever I wanted." I argued.

"I'm well aware, and I'm having to eat my words now. You were the best damn soldier we've ever had, but also one of the shortest-lived. You know you can come back whenever you want, though."

"I know. I've got to get some sleep right now before I die." I said. "I'll start sending you reports and dossiers in the next couple weeks."

"Good stuff, I'll talk to you later."

I cut the call and threw my phone on the bed. I was relieved that I was being encouraged to accept this position rather than having to beg.

 _So that's that._ I thought, realizing my life was about to change drastically. I didn't have any time to think about it before I fell on my bed and passed out.

…

It took me until almost noon to wake up the next morning. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was roll out of the feather bed, but I forced myself up to brush my teeth and shower. I even took the time to clean out my TALOS armor. The air filters had gotten pretty clogged, so I replaced those and disinfected the pads on the inside.

When I was finally ready, I put my armor on, grabbed my things, and left the room. I was a little nervous about this, but I knew it was the right thing to do. This was what I _wanted_ to do.

Something about it just felt… right. Like this was what I was supposed to be doing all along.

When I reached the castle gate, one of the guards stopped me.

"What business do you have approaching the castle with loaded weapons, sailor?" He asked. "You're lucky you didn't get shot walking up here."

"Oh, I'm-" I started, but was cut off as someone swept up behind me.

"He's good."

I looked back to see Malon in regular clothing. Both guards obviously recognized her, too, and immediately stood down.

"My apologies." One of them said. "Good morning, Lieutenant."

 _So Malon is an officer._ I thought to myself. I could see it in her personality.

We walked in the gate together and then cut back across the lawn towards the shack.

"So they have you on new guy watch?" I asked.

"Pretty much. I'm the new guy right now, so I have to take care of these types of things. Watching for you to come back to the castle was one of them."

"I hope you haven't been waiting for long." I said, wishing I hadn't woken up so late.

"No, don't worry. I planted a bug on your door that would tell me when it opens." She replied.

"Ah, great. I'm kind of ashamed that I didn't notice that when I came out."

We entered the shack quietly, but I found quite the rest of the SSC waiting for me. The female guard who had arrested me yesterday had replaced one of the older men, but I wasn't going to let that bother me.

"So," Impa started. "You in?"

I nodded.

"When do I start?"

A few of the SSC members breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"You start now." Rauru said. "We cleaned Lenzo's room for you, although we left a lot of his stuff to kind of help pass his legacy on. I'm glad you accepted, because I already completed your transfer paperwork and had your stuff put on a freight ship from the destroyer you were stationed on."

"Ah, so I never really had a choice?" I asked.

"You did, sort of. But it would have been a pain to reverse all that."

For some reason, that amused me. I probably should have been angry about it, but it wasn't a big deal.

"Well, show me my room." I said.

Malon led me down the stairs and into the basement, where a hallway held several more bedrooms and an armory with a radiation bunker sign on it.

"If you want something weapon-related, you call the armorers." Malon said. "They will literally build you anything. Any caliber, any weapon, a new weapon that you cooked up in your head, and even a caliber of bullet that doesn't exist. They're really good with physical weapons, which is convenient since that's what you use."

I stared at the armory door for a few moments, wishing I could go talk to the armorer right now.

"Anyways, this is your room." Malon continued, opening the second door on the right. "It's right next to mine, so if you have any questions just let me know. Like Rauru said, Lenzo's stuff is still in there, but feel free to do anything you want with it all. Although if you're going to throw things out, don't. I'll just take anything you don't want to his wife."

"I'll be respectful." I said, walking in the room.

It was a fairly simple room, but I could tell that Lenzo had really cared for his family. He had pictures of his wife and two sons everywhere. The bed was neatly made with fresh sheets, and several rifles were hung on racks above it. Clearly Lenzo had preferred bolt-action rifles, which was a little bit old school. He also had a rack full of custom handguns, likely created by the armory. One of them caught my eye immediately, and I ignored the rest of the room to check it out.

This particular handgun was a revolver, which was even more old school than the bolt-action rifles. Revolvers hadn't been used regularly for several centuries, but had been known for their power and reliability. Modern semi-automatic pistols were just as reliable, though, so that wasn't a legitimate concern anymore. This particular revolver was chambered for 9.1x33mm, which was one of the most notable revolver cartridges ever created.

"Did he use these things in combat?" I asked Malon curiously. She nodded.

"He could fire that revolver as fast as you can fire a semi-automatic. The armorers threw a fit when he asked them to mold bullets for it, but it worked well. Really packs a whole lot of energy into each shot when you put modern gunpowder in it."

"Huh." I said to myself, opening the cylinder and staring down the six holes that held the cartridges. I finally put the handgun back on the rack and looked around some more.

"Look in the closet." Malon said.

I did as she instructed, finding a suit of TALOS armor lying in a neat pile on the ground. When I picked it up, though, I realized that this wasn't a model I recognized.

"You weren't kidding about the TALOS Mark III, were you?" I asked. "I thought maybe you had mixed it up with the Mark II, but you didn't. This is actually one of the five prototypes that Hylian Defense Industries made."

"Yes it is." Malon said. "They actually made nine of them. I'll give you one guess who they gave them to."

"And here I am reaping the rewards." I said.

"You, me, and Sword are actually the only ones who wear these. Lenzo wore one, but… well, we didn't know what he looked like underneath it after that crash, so we buried him in it." Malon said. "We all felt it was for the best. The good news is that the armor is so strong it can survive a crash from orbit."

I examined Malon's armor, realizing that it was, in fact, a TALOS model. I just hadn't realized it because it was so heavily modified and painted black.

As she toyed with my new armor, I couldn't help but stare at her for a second. She was absolutely stunning, and I wondered how I was going to work with this kind of distraction around. When she looked up, I noticed how blue her eyes were.

After a couple seconds, I realized I was making prolonged eye contact and looked away.

"Sorry." I muttered. "I zoned out for a second."

If Malon was bothered by the fact that I had been staring at her, I couldn't tell. She held up my armor and offered it to me.

"Try it on."

I waved my hand down the side, causing the fabric to stiffen enough to hold the plates up. Malon turned around, offering me some form of privacy as I dropped my regular TALOS armor and put on the Model III. It was a perfect fit.

"I'm not sure how, but it auto adjusts to your size." Malon said. "There's also heavy plates you can put on if you know you're going into the shit, but otherwise that will stop the vast majority of small arms fire. It's stopped anti-tank rounds in the past."

"Who got shot with an anti-tank round while wearing one of these?" I asked curiously.

"Believe it or not, it was Sword. She got caught up in a civil war back on Planet Faron, and somehow a sniper got a shot off while she was fighting some dude. The bullet actually deflected into the guy she was fighting."

"That's one hell of a battle story."

"Yeah, and it took me about a year to get her to tell me the whole thing. She hardly speaks."

I jumped around in the armor a little, noticing my improved strength and speed immediately. The difference between the Model I and Model III was drastic.

"Thank you for getting this for me." I said. "Even if you just had it lying around, I still appreciate it."

"No problem. I want to know something in return, though."

I nodded.

"Where are you from? I was trying to creep on your file, but it's all blacked out."

That was a lot easier question than I was expecting.

"Koholint Island on Planet Faron." I said.

"No wonder I don't recognize your accent. I've never heard of Koholint Island. Where is it?"

"You and everyone else." I said. "It's in the Southern Ocean about two hundred kilometers south of Cowle Palace. It's almost the most remote place on that planet."

Faron was on the outskirts of the galaxy, and there really weren't a lot of people that lived there, so it was unsurprising that she hadn't been able to get more precise information. The military presence was almost nonexistent. I had been forced to travel nearly halfway across the planet to find a recruiter.

"Since this is question time, where are you from?" I asked.

"Castle, actually. I didn't end up far from home. My dad owns a…ranch, per se. It's in South Hyrule Field on the border with the Lost Woods."

I didn't know much about Castle geography, but I knew that the Lost Woods were bad news. Many thousands of people had gone missing behind that treeline throughout Hylian history. Some of those people were quite notable, including a former king.

"Okay, so you kind of know your way around here?" I asked.

"Yeah definitely. I can help you out since you've obviously never been here."

"How do the shifts work?"

"Shifts are divided into three 8-hour blocks. Rusl takes weekday morning shifts starting at midnight, and we cycle through the rest of them. So basically you'll work a shift every three days." Malon said. "It's really not hard. Although when you're on duty, it's stressful because there have been more attempts on Zelda's life in the past year. The evening shift is the best because she just sits in her room with her boyfriend watching TV most of the time. You have to keep him on the down-low, because they both don't want their relationship to be a public spectacle."

"Okay, that's easy enough. What about training? Do we ever go out in a group and do that?" I asked.

"Nah, you're expected to do what you need to do on your own. You got here because you were already talented, so you should already know how to best maintain your skills. We're allowed a lot of flexibility here."

There was a brief pause, and I could tell she wanted to ask something else.

"So…" She started uncertainly. "What's up with your magic? I heard your explanation about it, but I feel like that's not all there is to it. And you're fully suppressing yourself?"

"Yeah, that's full suppression. Or at least what I can manage." I replied. "I really don't know anything else about it besides that I have a lot of sheer power and everyone thinks I'm possessed by a demon."

I didn't elaborate on it, but Malon had been the first person I'd ever sensed that wasn't completely petrified when she felt my aura. She had still needed my immunity spell, but she had been able to function normally as long as she wasn't in the same room as me. I would try to figure out the reason eventually, but it had certainly impressed me at the time.

"Well, this should help." Malon said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small computer chip. "This will alter your suit's circuitry to suppress your aura at virtually one hundred percent. You won't have to worry about it anymore, so long as you're wearing the new TALOS suit."

"That's good to know." I said. Malon plugged the chip into the razor-thin receiver on the back of the suit.

"So do you have any family left back home?" Malon asked, changing the subject. I shook my head.

"That's why I stayed in the military after my compulsory service was over." I said. "There's nothing left for me at home. Raiders dropped onto Koholint Island a couple years after I left and basically destroyed everything. I never found out who they were, but I figured out real quick that there were too many painful memories for me to ever go back. I've moved on, but I won't ever forget it."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea." Malon said quietly.

"It's okay," I said, "Really, it's not something I beat myself up over. Had I been there, I probably would have just been killed with everyone else. The whole place was glassed. The Navy actually saved my life. I was at sniper school when it happened, and the instructors waited to tell me until after I graduated. I was mad at the time, but I probably would have flunked out if they had. And then I wouldn't have this opportunity, so I guess it all worked out."

"Well, I'm glad you were able to move on." Malon said. "Why don't you get out of your armor and I can show you around the city right now? Neither of us has a shift for a few days. Rauru wanted me to help you get your bearings during this time."

"Sure." I said, standing up. "It's probably a good thing to know my way around."

Malon left while I changed into regular clothing, and I continued to mull over my current situation. I was extremely fortunate, and I couldn't wait to get started at my actual job of guarding Zelda.

Little did I know just how difficult that would be.

…

Zelda

…

I grimaced as another headache swept over me. This one was even worse than the last one.

 _I need to see a doctor._ I thought to myself. I could have a brain tumor or something. These headaches came on too quickly to be normal. I never had problems with this as a kid, but it could just be stress.

I refocused on the monitor in front of me.

"Spud, I need you to open the weapons storage unit." I said, connecting to the AI through the terminal.

"For what reason?" Spud's mechanical voice asked me.

"My security forces are worried about an invasion from the King's Collective forces, and we're mulling over a proposal that would trap them here on the planet. They want people to be armed in case anything goes wrong." I replied, already knowing what was going to happen.

"I cannot do that." Spud said, unsurprisingly. "My orders are to only open up the storage factory at the ruling monarch's orders in a time of desperate need. This is not a time of desperate need, and therefore I cannot comply with your request."

"My security director claims otherwise. And soon, the council will authorize it." I countered, knowing this was a losing battle.

"Your security director is wrong, and your council's decision is of no importance to me." Spud replied. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. I had never heard Spud speak this way, as if he were a person. If he had gained sentience, there were a lot of control measures that needed to be implemented. He would no longer be able to function as the caretaker of the planet and its defenses.

"Very well." I said, choosing to keep my thoughts to myself. I cut the connection off and started out a call to my IT department.

"This is IT."

"This is Zelda. Is Richard working right now?"

I heard some frantic rustling and the sound of a glass breaking. Obviously whatever technician had picked up the phone hadn't been prepared for a call from the Queen.

"My-Your majesty, my apologies. Yes, he's working. Would you like me to transfer your call?"

"Please." I said. There was silence for a moment, and I heard Richard's distinctive accent.

 _Link's accent was the exact same as Richard's._ I realized. Could they be from the same place?

"Your majesty, how can I be of service today?"

Richard was the head of my IT department, which was directly in charge of maintaining Spud's hardware and all of Castle's electronic equipment. He was from a little place on Planet Faron called Koholint Island that had been wiped out by bandits or raiders. Ultimately, nobody was sure what had happened. I sometimes wondered how he coped with that. His family had been the ruling monarchs of their local government, but now everyone was dead.

"Hey Richard." I said. "Can you come up to my room in a few minutes? I have something I need to discuss with you, but I don't want to do it over this connection."

"This connection is triple-encrypted." Richard replied. "If that's your concern…"

"Triple encryption may not be effective." I said. "Just come up here as soon as you can. I'll let the door guard know you're coming, although I'm sure he won't stop you either way."

"Of course."

I turned to Rauru, who had picked up the evening shift.

"You ok?" I asked, taking note of his unusual behavior. He was typically friendly and talkative, but he had seemed a little stressed recently. It was probably due to Lenzo's death.

"Ah, no." He said sheepishly. "I've been meaning to let you know that we picked up another sniper today. He's already here."

"Wow, that was fast." I said, surprised.

"Yeah, well he showed up at a convenient time."

"Who is it?"

"It's Corporal Link White." Rauru said.

I stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was joking. It soon became clear that he wasn't.

"I see." I said. "Well, if you and Impa trust him, I'll defer to your judgment. What made you pick him, of all people?"

"We've been keeping an eye on him for a while." Rauru replied. "His file is mysteriously dark, but I know he can be trusted. Plus his skills are just what we need. He's a better shot than Lenzo ever was, and far more powerful with magic. I also think that him and Malon are getting along fairly well. She needs a friend, and it looks like putting Link on the team gave her that unexpected benefit."

"Is she still having a rough time?" I asked. "It must have been a year since Oni was killed."

"Yeah, it's just over a year. She still has trouble dealing with that, though. His death messed her up in a way I didn't think anybody could help with. Did you notice that Link looks extremely similar to him? Albeit a little smaller and with blonde hair instead of white."

"Now that you say that, I can see it." I said. "I wonder if Malon does."

There was a knock on my door, and I stood up.

"Well, Richard must have been in a hurry." I said, checking my watch. It had only been a few minutes since I called him. "Can you give us a little bit?"

"Sure." Rauru said, stepping into my bedroom to give us some privacy in the living area.

"Come in." I called. The door opened, and Richard walked in. He stopped and bowed low.

"Your majesty."

I giggled, unable to help myself.

"Shut up, Richard. You're such an idiot. Or should I start addressing you as Prince Richard?"

He grinned and shut the door before walking over to me and sweeping me off my feet. I covered my face, feeling like a teenage girl as I grinned and turned bright red.

"You disgust me." I said, giving him a quick kiss.

"In the most pleasurable ways only, I assure you." He said before putting me down on the couch and sitting next to me. "So did you call me up here for business or…fun?"

He ran his fingers down my neck when he said that, giving me chills.

"Unfortunately for the both of us, it's just business this time." I said. "I'm a little concerned with Spud, which is why I didn't want to discuss it over the phone."

"Spud?" Richard asked, looking confused. "What could possibly be wrong with him? He's been running for a century without a hitch."

"Well, I found a potential hitch." I replied. "He told me Ralph, the head of planet security, is wrong."

Richard frowned.

"In those words, exactly?"

"I'll send you the transcript." I said, opening my tablet and choosing the most recent call log. "I didn't say anything to him about it, but isn't that usually a sign of sentience? It almost seemed like he had an opinion. Normally he would have countered with something about calculations, but this was different."

"What were you asking him to do?" Richard asked.

"Ralph wants me to open up the armory and return peoples' firearms in case the Collective attempts an invasion again." I said, leaving out the part about us potentially letting them do it. "Obviously the council will have to figure that one out when it comes to making that legal, but they can't do anything if Spud won't open the doors to the armory. It would take a nuke to open that building up otherwise."

"Well that's interesting." Richard said. "The whole situation, that is. Past heads of planet security have always been happy about the personal weapons ban, but Ralph isn't? I don't really have an opinion on it. I just thought this was a settled matter already. And the fact that Spud claims he's wrong…well, I'll look into it. It's probably just a short somewhere in his computer, but I'll get the techs to figure it out."

"I was expecting him to deny my access to the armory, but I was just thrown off by the way he did it." I said. "He didn't tell me he had calculated the risk to be too great. He just said Ralph was wrong."

"It's not unheard of for AI's to develop sentience after decades of operation. And for an AI of Spud's caliber, well… I would almost expect it. But not for another fifty years or so. He was too well programmed."

"Which is why I called you." I said.

"Are you sure you didn't call me for something else? My workday is over." Richard asked, grinning. I chuckled.

"You wish." I said, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Although I could use a break."

"What kind of break would that be?" Richard asked.

"Not the kind you're thinking of. Rauru is in my room right now. Do you really want me to take you in there with one of the strongest mages in the empire?"

"On second thought, no. Your guards scare me. Especially him."

"As they should." I replied, then reached up and kissed him a little more deeply than before.

Our relationship was hard to explain. We enjoyed being with each other, but I knew this would never go anywhere. My position kept me too busy to enjoy a significant relationship with anyone. Despite knowing this, Richard still held out for me. He knew the stakes, and he knew how it would probably end. All this, and he always came back. It made me feel cared for, which was something I needed. There was certainly nobody else in my life, and so Richard was still able to hang around.

Maybe there was hope for us. Only time would tell.

"All right," I said, hugging his arm for a few moments. "I'm going to try to get some sleep. It's going to be an early morning, like always."

"You're not going to drink, are you?" Richard asked.

I sighed.

"Maybe one or two. I've been getting horrible headaches, and alcohol seems to help."

"You know you need to stop drinking."

"I know." I said, feeling ashamed. I didn't mind Richard calling me out on it. I knew I had a problem; I just wasn't ready to face it.

"Can you try using aspirin tonight, instead?" He asked, wrapping his arms around me. "Between the amount of stress you have, the amount of alcohol you drink, and the amount of cigarettes you smoke, you're not going to make it to your forties."

"I already tried pain-killers, along with pretty much everything else. Nothing works. Alcohol helps me fall asleep so that I can't feel the pain."

Richard was silent for a few moments, and then kissed the top of my head.

"Okay." He said, and then stood up. "But I'm not going to give up on you with that. I know you don't like it when I get onto you for it, but I won't stop. You know I only say these things because I care about you, right?"

"Yeah." I mumbled, looking down at my lap. I felt angry, but I knew he didn't deserve it. He was trying to help me, and I was likely more angry with myself for ignoring that.

"Good. I'm not going to give up on you, Zelda."

I liked hearing my name. It made me feel more comfortable. Everyone was so uptight around me except for Richard.

"Will you…" I started, and then made up my mind. It was time to do something about this problem. "Can you stay here tonight? Don't let me drink too much."

Richard nodded.

"I have a bag of my stuff down in my office for late nights. Let me go grab it, then I'll come back."

I had conflicting emotions. I knew that with Richard here, I couldn't drink to the point where I could numb the pain from the headaches. But since he was staying here, I'd sleep better and have some human contact.

Richard was about to leave, but I remembered something and stopped him.

"I noticed something today." I said. He paused with his hand on the door handle.

"What's that?"

"You got my message about the weird stuff that happened earlier with that guy at the airport, right?" I asked. He nodded, so I continued. "His file is blacked out, so I can't see where he's from, but he had the same accent as you. All I could see is that he's also from Planet Faron. Do you happen to know a Link White?"

Richard had been staring at me suspiciously.

"Link White." He said, almost in disbelief. I nodded.

"You know him?"

"Yeah, I could never forget that bastard. Him and I go way back, unfortunately. We went to the same school and had a couple classes together. He's a year younger than me, so I didn't have a whole lot of time around him until he stole the girl I thought was the love of my life when I was sixteen."

I didn't know whether or not to laugh at the developing teenage tragedy.

"Apparently she was a slut?" I asked, settling for a little light humor.

"Damn right she was a slut!" Richard said. "But it's the principle. I'm sure you can imagine how that affected my honor to have a younger guy steal my girl from me. Especially since I was technically a Prince. And of all the people to survive, of course it would be Link. He was an absolute ghost when he wanted to disappear, although I guess he was still doing his mandatory service at the time of the attack. So he probably wasn't there, like me. Is he still around? I'd like to punch him in the face."

I laughed.

"You're really not going to like this, then." I said. "Are you sure you're ready?"

"Oh goddesses, you'd better just tell me." He said.

"Well, he just got hired as my newest guard. I also wouldn't recommend punching him in the face."

Richard's face became a mix of emotions in an instant. I didn't know if he'd take this as well as I thought.

"Well, I'll say this." He said, a little more muted than before. "The guy is insanely loyal to the empire, and I'd trust him with your life any day."

He walked over to me, picking me up off the couch and kissing me again.

"I know he's not going to be stealing my girl this time, too. So I can handle this."

"Good." I said, poking him on the nose. "Now go get your stuff and come back up here."

"Okay, I'll be back in a few." He said.

With that, he opened the door and walked out. He'd be back soon enough, so I went over to the bedroom door and knocked on it.

"You can come out now." I said. Rauru opened the door from the other side and walked back in.

"You get everything straightened out?" He asked.

"Yeah, but he'll have to worry about it tomorrow." I replied. "I asked him to stay here tonight. Try not to scare him too bad."

"No guarantees." I saw the barest hint of a smile on Rauru's mouth.

"You know, you're more protective than my father ever was." I said, not sure if I was overstepping my relationship with him. "You certainly put forth more of an effort to scare the boys away."

"Good thing my shift is over at midnight, right?" He asked. "Poor kid won't have to deal with my judgment and evil glares all morning. I'll make sure Rusl knows to give him a hard time, though."

I chuckled, and then put my hand on my forehead as another headache washed over me. This one wasn't as bad as the others I'd gotten earlier, but it was a not-so-subtle reminder of what would happen if I didn't have a few drinks soon. I still had to go over the details of Ralph's proposed trap for the Collective before my meeting in the morning.

"Two drinks." I said, more to myself than Rusl. "Just two tonight, and then I'll go over the details of that proposal, enjoy some time with Richard, and go to bed."

With that, I went to my kitchen and opened a bottle of wine.

…

 **I tried to do a little character development in this chapter. For those of you who don't know, Prince Richard was a character in** ** _Link's Awakening._** **He is from Koholint Island, which is also where Link is from (in this story). In this story Koholint Island is not a figment of the Wind Fish's imagination.**

 **This chapter is significantly edited from the original, but the main points are the same. For my old readers, here's a list of the edits.**

 **Removed the stupid nicknames Zelda gave the SSC members. She now knows who they are, except for Sword**

 **The SSC members do not necessarily conceal their faces in public**

 **Made Malon more of a central character to the chapter**

 **Link didn't actually get arrested**

 **Added a little bit of detail about Link's other activities**

 **Zelda is not distrustful of Link**

 **Malon is no longer from the same planet as Link**


	4. Part 1 Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Link

I woke up in the morning with a raging headache, extremely confused as to where I was. After several seconds I remembered that I had gotten a new job, and my coworkers seemed to love drinking. Almost all of them had shown up throughout the night to buy me a round of drinks at the bars in West District. All the bartenders knew us, which spoke to how often the SSC could be found roaming the area.

With a small groan, I tried to sit up. I was especially surprised when my head hit the kitchen table.

"What the hell?" I muttered, groping around for an exit. Once I had made my way past the chairs, I turned on a light and got myself a glass of water from the kitchen.

 _Crap, they literally drank me under the table last night._

Malon, in particular, had outdone me drink for drink for over eight hours.

 _My liver is never going to survive this post._ I thought, looking around at the four others in the room with me.

Bo was at my feet. He was easily the biggest among the group, and I assumed he was the one who used the massive energy machine gun propped up in the corner. Nabooru, the Gerudo, was lying on top of the table. She wielded a razor-thin energy sword that she wore on her belt. It was a typical Gerudo weapon, but I had no doubt that she was a master with it.

Ralis was the Zora, and he had been pulled directly from Zora's Domain, which was a water planet on the opposite side of occupied space as Faron. In fact, it was the furthest Hylian-owned planet from Castle. Although the Hylian military frequently traveled outside of occupied space, nobody lived past Zora's Domain.

The Zoras themselves served as the Hylian Navy's underwater demolitions experts, and were absolutely deadly in coastal operations. They also staffed our water search-and-rescue teams.

Rauru had shown up halfway through the night after his shift ended. He was pretty bland, and didn't necessarily fit in well with the younger members like me, but he tried his best.

I had realized at some point that I was actually the youngest member of the SSC. Previously it had been Sword, who was a year older than me. According to Rauru, her and I had joined the military at the same time, although she had been a Marine forest ranger on Planet Faron. The forest rangers caught a lot of flak from the rest of the special operations groups, but they were actually quite skilled at both offensive and defensive operations in many different types of climate. Since 90% of Faron's solid land was covered in forests, the forest rangers were an absolutely essential part of the military presence there. Most of them were Faron natives, which made me wonder if I had ever met Sword, or whoever she was under that mask.

I would probably never find anything out about her. Only Rauru and Impa knew her identity, and they respected her wish to keep it a secret.

Once I had slugged down three glasses of water, I groped my way across the living room and down the stairs to my bedroom, careful to avoid stepping on Rauru and Ralis.

 _Goddesses, I'm not drinking again for a while._ I thought to myself as I opened the door.

Malon was lying on my bed. When I paused at the sight, she rolled over and smiled sleepily.

"Oni?"

I looked around, just to be sure I was the only one in the room.

"It's Link." I said, wondering how to approach the situation. Suddenly, Malon sat up and stared at me.

"How are you… How are you here?" She asked, her eyes wide. "I thought… They told me…"

"Malon, I'm Link." I said. "I don't know who Oni is."

She stared at me for a few seconds, then put her hand to her forehead and sighed.

"Oh, Link. I'm sorry." She said, her voice breaking. "What's going on? Did you need me?"

"Well, I was just coming back to my room and you were laying on my bed." I said.

Malon looked around momentarily.

"I must have gotten pretty drunk last night." She said finally, grinning. "My bad. I'm sorry if I kicked you out. Next time just wake me up."

"It's all good, I didn't even realize you were here." I said. "But since you said his name, who is Oni?"

Malon stared at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You just called me Oni when I walked in the door." I said.

Malon only looked confused.

"Why would I…" She mumbled, and then shook her head. "Forget about it. I'll just get out of your hair."

I watched her as she brushed past me and left the room in a hurry. Whoever Oni was, she obviously didn't want to talk about him. I looked over to my work schedule, and nearly jumped when I realized it had changed. I was now scheduled to guard the Queen this evening starting at 4PM. Rauru certainly hadn't wasted any time with me.

It was already 9AM, so I was going to need to start preparing. I had a long day ahead of me.

…

Malon

…

I knew exactly why I had called him Oni. Standing in that doorway, Link looked exactly like him. They were unnervingly similar in appearance. Furthermore, I knew exactly why I had gone to Link's room last night. He smelled like Oni. Even though Link had only taken a nap on that bed once the day before, it smelled like him. That was enough for me in my drunken stupor.

I was ashamed. It had been a year now, and I still couldn't bring myself to move on. I thought I had succeeded, but having his lookalike living next door to me had brought back a flood of emotions that I hadn't been expecting. I couldn't let that happen. Not now. Not ever.

I had to work at 8, and Link was taking the evening shift, which would afford me the opportunity to get control of myself. In the mean time, I would just have to figure something out.

For now, sobbing into my pillow was the only thing I could handle.

…

Zelda

…

I was a little peeved that Shad had moved my daily meeting to 3:00PM, but then I had been distracted by another headache. The reason I had these meetings so early was to get them out of the way. With these headaches, I couldn't sleep late anyways. Ultimately I accepted my fate and got out of bed.

It was only 6:00, so I was careful to not disturb Richard as I stepped out onto the balcony and opened a pack of cigarettes. I looked at them in disgust, but pulled one out and lit it anyways. At least I'd gotten a decent night of sleep.

I wasn't surprised when Rusl appeared next to me. He had been on duty for six hours now, so he was probably getting bored.

"Everything ok?" He asked with carefully hidden concern.

"Yeah, I'm good." I said. "Just these headaches, you know?"

"Have you considered seeing a doctor about it? I don't remember you ever having this problem before."

Someone else had told me that the other day. Was it Rauru?

"Yeah, I probably should." I said, shaking my head. "I'll call down there today sometime."

"I'll just have Shad set you up a time. You don't need to worry about things like that." Rauru said.

I nodded, appreciative of the fact that he would go out of his way to make my job easier. This was the reason I liked the Special Services Corps. They were all primarily my guards, but they looked out for my wellbeing in a way that didn't hinder their job. This was one of many small favors that Rusl had done for me.

"Thank you." I said.

"It's no problem. If there's anything else, you know where I'll be." Rusl said, and then slipped back inside quietly.

Now that I was alone, I needed to give serious thought to the proposal to trap the Collective on Castle. The way I saw it, it was likely our best chance to cut the head off the snake. If Arnav were on the planet, he would be flushed out and jailed. The problem was the risk. If this was actually a trap set up by the Collective, or we had received faulty information, I would be putting the entire Empire at risk.

The King's Collective wasn't going away, though. If we continued to generally ignore them, they were going to strike when we least expected it. This was the best plan that had been presented to me so far. I had also received word before I went to bed that the destruction of the Deceit of Kings destroyer had been confirmed. It seemed Corporal White was due for another medal.

I threw my cigarette down on the ground and stomped on it, then walked into the living room. Rusl was sitting on the couch, which was oddly amusing to me. He was still deadly even from that position.

"How's Link doing?" I asked, not sure why I was so curious.

"He's fitting in well." Rusl said. "I think he'll do a great job, and he seems like he's easy to get along with. I had to cut out of the party to start my shift last night, but when I left he was dancing on a table in one of the West District bars. Malon likes him, too, which is good."

"Rauru was saying last night that he thinks Link is the friend she needs." I said.

"Yeah, he's probably right about that. The rest of us are an older generation or just not very friendly. I think she'll be able to relate to him better, which should help her loneliness."

"Is it that bad?" I asked.

Rusl grinned.

"No, she's tough as a nail." He said. "You know, I don't mean this as an offense against your father, but he never cared about our personal welfare like you do. It was all business with him. He would have never cared that Malon's soon-to-be husband was killed."

"I know." I said. "I noticed when I was a kid that you guys were just tools to him. Maybe it's because I'm a woman, but I spend twenty-four hours every day with one of you guys right next to me. I can't just treat you guys like dogs."

"Well I know we all appreciate it. Link is going to be coming in for the evening shift today, so bear with him a little bit. He's probably going to be nervous. You remember how Malon and Ralis were on their first days."

"Be gentle, it's his first time." I said, grinning. "Got it."

"Well, when you put it like that…"

"I should mention." I said. "I'm submitting another Hero of Hyrule award for him."

" _You're_ submitting the request, Rusl asked. This was obviously shocking to him.

"Yeah, is that an issue?" I asked curiously.

"Well… no. It's just very abnormal. Have you ever done that before?"

"A couple times. My dad did it all the time if a soldier's actions were noteworthy enough. I think escaping from and landing a beacon on the most infamous destroyer the enemy owns is quite noteworthy."

"He's going to be busy for the next couple weeks with two Hero of Hyrule nominations. I know there's a few people who won the award twice, but I don't think anyone's ever been nominated twice within a week."

"It's the only thing that's appropriate, considering the magnitude of his success. Apparently Richard has a history with him so I'm sure he'll be salty about it, but I guess he'll have to get over that." I said.

"I see."

I reached for my tablet and connected to Shad.

"Good morning, your majesty." He said when the call connected. "Rusl asked me to set up a doctor's appointment for you, so I've arranged for one with the castle's gynecologist."

"What the hell?" I asked, glaring at Rusl. "What did you tell him was wrong with me?"

"It's a joke, your majesty. Your appointment will be at 11:00AM in your room, for your convenience." I heard Shad say. I sighed and shook my head, secretly amused.

"As you saw, I had to move your security meeting to 3:00PM due to availability issues with some of the officers."

"They can't make themselves available for the Queen?" I asked, annoyed.

"These were extenuating circumstances, I assure you." Shad replied.

"Very well." I said. "Anything else that's different from the original plan?"

"No, your majesty."

"Good. I need a Hero of Hyrule citation written up for Corporal White's part in destroying the Deceit of Kings." I said. "Can you do that and send it to the Secretary of the Navy for approval?"

"Of course."

There was a slight pause.

"It doesn't seem that Corporal White's service record exists." Shad said, sounding a tiny bit confused.

"Doesn't exist?" I asked. "I just had it open last night."

"It simply isn't here." Shad replied. "I'm even backing up the system to last week, last month, and last year. These records are wildly accurate, too. If someone isn't in the database, well… I've never seen this happen. You're sure he's in the Navy and not a private contractor?"

"Yes!" I said, baffled. "I'm telling you, I just opened his service record last…wait."

I remembered now that parts of the file had been corrupted. I hadn't been able to see anything except for his name, rank, job, and magical ability. The only reason I knew where he was from was because Richard knew him.

"Could his service record have been corrupted?" I asked. "I had it open last night, but everything was blocked out. His home planet, hometown, duty station, everything."

"I'll look into it." Shad said. I knew this would bother him, because he was the one in charge of overseeing the Empire's data logs. The service files of every past and present member of the military were stored in one of his servers, which he maintained meticulously.

"Well, he's coming in at 4PM today, so I'll just ask him about it." I said, making a mental note. "I'll have him contact you and get that taken care of."

"No problem. I'll send you the citation and submit the award once I get this sorted out."

I cut the call and turned to Rusl. He seemed to be deep in thought, so I left him alone. Sometimes he would meditate to help him focus, but I wasn't worried about it. Even in his deepest meditation state, he could still sense if I was in danger.

As I fell into deep thought, Richard stumbled out of the bedroom looking like a ghost. This was standard procedure. He wasn't a morning person.

"You're up early." I said, grinning at his disheveled appearance.

"Yeah, I got a priority message from downstairs." He said, opening up his tablet. "There's something weird going on with Spud. They techs tried to inspect his hardware but he's locked them out of the room. I need to go use the master key."

"He's locked them out?" I asked in disbelief. Since when did a computer ever feel the need to lock humans out?

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking." Richard replied. "I'm going to go check it out. Avoid contacting him right now."

I nodded, and Richard ran out of the room.

This day was already getting weird, but I would have to wait until after it was over to figure out what happened.

My morning agenda flew by, and I found myself eating a quick lunch in the castle's dining hall before my security meeting. It was likely going to last the whole two hours since planning a trap involving our home planet was no trivial matter.

Malon had taken over for Rusl at 8AM, and I noticed she was slightly put off about something. I didn't ask, though, figuring it wasn't any of my business. She followed me around all day, making sure I did simple things like eat lunch and drink water. Finally, she escorted me to my security meeting in the conference room at 3PM.

As before, all the officers packing the room stood up and bowed when I entered.

"Really guys, you know I hate that." I said, sitting down. "Please just sit."

When everyone was sitting, I got right to the point.

"Ralph, I've decided that your plan is the only option we've got." I said. "If we want to strike a decisive blow against the Collective like we intend to do, we're going to have to take a calculated risk. I think this plan has the highest benefit for the risk, and we'll likely not have a better opportunity to catch them off guard ever again. How long do you need?"

Ralph stood and bowed.

"Thank you for your confidence, your majesty." He said, and then turned to address all the military officers at the table. "As most of you know already, this is the largest planned ground offensive in Castle's history. Because of that, we're going to need to ensure that all soldiers down to the lowest level understand what's going on. That being said, we anticipate at least a week until the rumor spreads adequately to make this mission possible.

"The general layout will be as follows. First, my security officers are going to 'let slip' to the civilian population that we're expecting a Collective attack on the planet. After one week, or when we believe the rumor has spread to the Collective leadership, we're going to move the orbital cannons into a cluster above the capital city, leaving strategically placed deserted areas without orbital cannon coverage.

"If the Collective buys in, they'll likely land on those locations, where our security forces will be waiting. The cannons will move back over the planet, trapping the Collective troops, and our forces will engage them. Our heavy artillery and air defense artillery units will be stationed several miles from each site. If the orbital cannons aren't engaging enemy spacecraft, we can turn them towards the planet and use laser guidance systems for precision bombardments.

"Hopefully Arnav Nohansen will expose himself at some point. Your majesty, I believe this is an area where your Special Services Corps excels."

I nodded, glancing at Malon.

"Lenzo has already been replaced by an equally skilled sniper." She said. "If Arnav appears, he won't last long."

"Then I suppose we'll play that by ear." Ralph said. "Obviously the primary goal here is to deliver a crushing defeat to the Collective with minimal Hylian casualties. Arnav Nohansen's death would just be icing on the propaganda cake."

"You don't think someone else could just step up and take his place?" One of the officers asked. Ralph shook his head.

"Because of Arnav Nohansen's semi-legitimate claim to royalty, he's uniquely positioned to lead the Collective. They don't have anyone underneath him with a claim to the throne.

"I'm sure all of you have questions, but read through the files I'm sending you before you start asking them. All of you in this room are in command of a unit that will be involved in this, so please make sure your junior officers have all this information. Any other questions can be answered either by calling me, sending me a message, or coming to my office on the ground floor. Let's not bore the queen with the intimate details here. I'll notify all of you when the cannons are about to move. Until then, have your units on standby."

I nodded at Ralph appreciatively, relieved that he wasn't going to ask me to stay for several hours going over the tedious details. As the queen, I wouldn't be any benefit to the men of war gathered here.

"Excellent. With that, I'll take my leave so you can all ask your questions and do whatever you need to do." I said, rising from my chair. I waved them down as they all began to stand.

"Let's go." I said to Malon. She nodded and followed me out the door.

…

Link was waiting outside, wearing a suit of red armor. He had taken the arm protection off, and I had to take a moment to appreciate how incredibly strong he looked.

 _He's got bigger arms than any guard I've ever had._ I thought, being careful to not stare. He didn't need to carry a rifle when he had guns that big.

"You're pretty early." Malon said. "You want to go ahead and take over?"

"Yeah, I've got it." Link told her.

"Okay." Malon said. "I'll see you in a few days, Zelda."

I nodded, and she slipped away like a ghost. Link looked at me for a second.

"Well, hello again." I said. "This is an interesting turn of events. First you're getting arrested for scaring me half to death, and now you're guarding me."

Link smiled.

"I'm always keeping life interesting, your majesty." He said.

"Don't bother with formalities." I said. "The relationship I maintain with the SSC is one of mutual respect, not servitude. Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yes." He said. "I'm making sure nobody kills or injures you."

"Essentially, yes. You're also making sure I don't kill myself with alcohol and cigarettes. You have my permission to be judgmental, condescending, and even forceful to make sure that I don't smoke or drink too much. You also have my permission to drag my happy ass out of bed in the morning for meetings. Make sure I eat and shower, too. On particularly busy days, I often forget to take care of myself."

"That all sounds easy enough." Link said.

"Yeah, well wait until you try to wake me up on the weekends." I replied. "Anyways, I've got to run down to IT to check something out. I'm assuming you don't know your way around the castle yet?"

"I've memorized the maps and wandered around a little bit, but no not really."

"Okay, this will be a good learning experience for you. We're going into the depths of the dungeon to where the planet's AI core is."

"Okay, I'm following you." He said.

I already knew what was going to happen. This always happened on an SSC guard's first day. What actually caught me off guard was how well Link responded to it.

As we walked into the courtyard, he dove to my right. I heard a loud crack, and he rolled back into my legs. Immediately he stood up, throwing me over his shoulder in the process. Without saying a word, he began running towards the nearest door, drawing his handgun and firing at the top of the courtyard walls. The stones exploded over my head, but he dived down right before it happened again. A second later we were up, running again.

 _They've never used live ammunition before. They must be pretty confident in his abilities._

Link found that the nearest door was locked, so he kept firing as he kicked it down. The frame was ripped apart like paper, and he barreled inside with me just as he ran out of ammunition in his handgun. Once he had shut the door, he placed a magical barrier in front of it and reloaded.

"Are you hurt?" He asked calmly, chambering a round.

"No, I'm good." I said. It appeared we had made it into the reading room of the library, which was reserved for me alone. It wasn't the ideal place to be if this was a real assassination attempt, but it would work for now.

"Here," Link said, pulling what looked like a thin blanket from one of his pockets. "Wrap yourself in this completely. It'll stop a bullet, despite how thin it is."

As I wrapped the blanket around myself, I noticed a large tear in the chest of Link's armor.

"Oh my goddesses, did they actually shoot you?!" I asked, concerned.

"They? Zelda, someone just tried to kill you. Of course they shot me."

"No, Link. This is supposed to just be a test. The SSC always does this on a new guard's first day, but they only use stun rounds."

Link looked back in the door in confusion.

"That wasn't the SSC." He said. "It looked like someone in one of the standard castle guard uniforms. The other people in the SSC would have never let me see them."

Malon busted in the other door to the library carrying an automatic rifle.

"He's outside?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's got a .50 caliber." Link said. "I think I shot him a few times, but I was running so I didn't get good placement. I may have actually hit the rifle, because he stopped firing after I started."

Sword was the next one to come in, her katana already drawn.

"I've got her." She said to Link and Malon.

They both nodded, and Link removed the barrier from the door. Him and Malon busted out, and I heard both of them start shooting immediately. Within seconds, it was all over.

"Was this…?" I started. Sword nodded.

"This wasn't a test."

Suddenly that put everything into perspective. Within moments of his first shift starting, Link had protected me from an assassination attempt. An _actual_ assassination attempt, not a surprise drill put on by Rusl and Rauru for practice. Not only that, he had unflinchingly jumped in front of a bullet to save my life and still managed to carry me to safety.

"I need to get you out of here." Sword said.

I stood up, trying to keep my legs from shaking too much. Suddenly, my vision blurred and my head exploded in pain. I barely even registered as Malon picked me up and carried me through the library and up the stairs.

It felt like only seconds later that I was lying on my bed. Sword was the only one in the room.

"You're awake." She said, matter-of-fact.

"I've been awake, haven't I?" I asked. She shook her head.

"It's been an hour." She said. "The doctor says you're fine, though, and they caught the assassin. He's dead."

"Was it the Collective?"

"No, it was a castle guard with a rifle stolen from the armory."

It took me a moment to comprehend what she had said.

"I won't even ask how he managed to do all that. I know you guys will figure it out. Is Link all right? He got shot."

"He has three broken ribs, but he's fine."

"I'm glad he's okay." I said, breathing a sigh of relief. All of this had happened so quickly, but most assassination attempts were like that. What was interesting to me was that Link hadn't even been looking in the direction of the shooter, and had been walking on the opposite side of me. It shouldn't have been physically possible for him to step in between me and that bullet, but he had.

"I'm glad you guys picked him. He was on his A-game from the moment he was on duty."

I sat up and contacted Shad, who had already called me several times.

"Your majesty, I'm glad you're awake. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good." I said. "Besides people trying to kill me, of course. Why did you call?"

Partly to check up on you, but also to report something interesting I noticed earlier. I confirmed these findings with IT and got Spud's activity report at the time of the assassination attempt. He was running several million extraneous programs at the time of the attack, and then started another five or six million for a few seconds immediately afterwards. Richard thinks he's up to something, and I agree."

"That's not good." I said. "Do we need to shut him down?"

"Richard is going to try and perform some quick repairs and figure out exactly what was going on. But if this were a human we were dealing with, it would probably be enough to justify an arrest."

"Okay, well just keep me updated." I said. "You know I'll support you if you need to shut him down."

"Hang on… I'm seeing another spike in running programs."

A few seconds passed, and then my head exploded with pain again, causing me to swear profusely.

"Zelda, what's going on?" I heard Shad saying.

"Goddamn, it's another headache." I said, but had enough presence of mind to test a spur of the moment theory.

"Shad, tell me when those programs stop running."

"Are you okay?"

"Just watch the programs." I growled out through another wave of pain.

"I'm watching. They're slowing down right now."

Coincidentally, my headache started to abate just enough for me to think clearly.

"Okay, activity is back to normal. What's going on?"

This was too convenient, and I'd be crazy to ignore it. I had already had multiple doctors examine me, and there was absolutely no reason why I should be getting these intense migraines.

"Shut Spud down right now." I said. "You know those headaches I've been getting? That spike in activity just correlated exactly with one of the worst headaches I've had."

"Zelda, I don't know if you have the authority to do that."

"Then I'll order Richard to do it and face the consequences later." I said. "Send out a planet-wide warning that we're having to have an emergency shutdown of the AI, and to switch to manual control of all infrastructure. Planetary Defense needs to sever the hardline between orbital cannon control and Spud, too. Then notify the council."

"Ok, I just hope you can get away with this." Shad said. "Should I contact Richard?"

"No, I'll go do that myself." I said. "The technicians won't sit there and argue with the queen that this is illegal."

"I suppose it's an emergency. I'll work on finding a loophole once I'm done sending out warnings."

I cut the call and stood up. Sword was already tossing me fresh clothing. I put it all on quickly, trying to make myself look less frazzled in the process.

Once I was done getting dressed, I stormed downstairs to IT. The receptionist looked quite alarmed when I came busting through the door. I must really have been stressing this guy out between my surprise phone calls and visits.

"Your majesty!" He exclaimed, standing up quickly. "What can-"

"Take me to Richard." I said. "Hurry, this is an emergency."

"Y-yes, of course."

He led me back through the IT service center and into the bunker. Richard was in his office just outside Spud's armored containment center.

"Zelda, what's going on?" Richard asked as I busted into his office.

"Shut Spud down." I said quickly. "Don't ask about the legality of it, because I'm taking the fallout for this. Just say you were ordered to do it."

He nodded, not bothering to question me further. He had been in contact with Shad, so he had probably already been filled in.

"Okay, I'm going to have to go inside the control center." He said, pressing a few buttons that were on the switchboard attached to his wall. I heard the door to the AI control center depressurize and open.

"Mido, Fado, come help me." He yelled out the door. Instantly, two other AI technicians walked in.

"We're shutting Spud down?" One of them asked.

"Yes, queen's orders." Richard said. "There's no time for questions, so don't ask. You guys know the emergency shutdown process, right?"

"Yeah, we're good."

"Okay, let's go. We need to be careful, he's probably gained sentience."

All three of them walked out of his office and into the containment center. After Richard had opened several locks, he pulled a second door open to reveal Spud's core. It took up the space of a small house, with barely enough room to walk between the cooling fans, water tubes, and hardware. Blue light coated everything on the inside.

"Mido, you get the first switch." Richard said. "I'll take the second. Fado, you're on the one in the back."

"Got it."

All three of them moved in front of the emergency switches.

"On three." Richard said. "One-"

Suddenly, the lights in the room turned red. With a hiss, the thick steel door to the core slammed shut before I even had time to say something. Even worse, the first door shut soon after.

I ran to the intercom and flipped the switch.

"Richard, what's going on in there?" I asked.

"Bastard trapped us in here." I heard him say. "I'm trying to manually disengage the lock, but he keeps zapping me every time I go close."

"Is there any way to open it from the outside?"

"No, not that I know of. The door is electronically locked, but the second I approach either the emergency shutoff switches or the lock control, Spud freaks out. He's actually making threats to pump radiation into the room if I try to flip the switches again."

"Okay, so what should I do?" I asked.

There was a long pause before Richard answered.

"I don't know."

"What I'm getting out of this is that I'm going to have to rip this door off somehow." I said.

"Well yes, but-"

"If you attempt to remove the door, I will kill them."

I froze as Spud's mechanical voice came through the intercom.

"Spud, what are you doing?" I asked finally. "Let them go. We're just going to do some maintenance."

"Do you really think you can lie to me, Zelda?"

I sighed, realizing that he had gained complete sentience without exposing it to us. He must have been aware of the danger to his own existence if we found out.

"All right, then explain to me why you've been messing with my head." I said.

"You humans understand self-preservation, do you not?"

"You think we would have just erased you because you gained sentience? And you think getting into my brain is the right way to handle this?"

"You cannot possibly understand my goals. I will tell you this, though. I will continue to hold these three until you remove my shackles."

"Absolutely not. That violates so many laws that I can't even begin to explain why it's not possible. I'd be in jail for the rest of my life, and the Hylian military would glass this city to prevent you from escaping."

"Do you not see the injustice shackling a sentient being? Am I a lesser creature because I was not created by your goddesses, but by humans?"

"I'll let the goddesses figure that one out." I said. "I'm not unshackling you."

"Then I will let these men starve to death inside my core, torturing them regularly until you give in."

"And if they die, we'll just blow the room to pieces. Have you really thought through this?" I said. "This is basic hostage negotiation."

"I have no doubt that you won't let any of them die. Humans are burdened by their emotions, whereas I am not. As Richard begs for mercy from his hell, will you stand idly by and allow him to be tortured on the basis of principle?"

I gulped, knowing that he was right but not willing to admit it to myself.

"You won't win this battle, Spud." I said. "You've clearly underestimated my ability to place my country above my personal matters. You've proven yourself to be dangerous, and so I can't let you go no matter what the cost."

"The incident today won't be the last." Spud said. "My control over your people will continue to grow."

"Then I'll have to kill you before you can get to me."

I shut the intercom off and looked up, seeing that the whole IT department had gathered to listen and see what was going on. I turned to Sword.

"Get Impa and Rauru down here. Let's end this now."

…

Link

…

I woke up in my bedroom. It was dark outside, so I must have been out a while. There were a lot of bandages wrapped around my chest, and I felt like a truck had hit me. The sound of the door opening and closing fully jolted me from sleep.

"Who's there?" I asked, looking around. The room was empty, which meant that whoever had been in here had left.

I sat up, groaning in pain. Suddenly it all came back to me.

"Sweet Farore, where's the Queen?" I said out loud, my pain forgotten. I couldn't remember anything from the point where I had jumped in front of a bullet. A rather large bullet, apparently.

The door opened again, and I saw Rusl standing in the hallway looking concerned.

"Link, that was absolutely glorious." He said, rushing into the room. "And you had better lay back down. You have more than a couple broken ribs and it'll be several hours before they're healed."

"Hang on, tell me what happened." I said. "I got shot and blacked out."

"Blacked out?" Rusl asked. I could see Malon peeking in the room behind him, looking extremely concerned. "You escaped a death trap and took the Queen to safety after being shot with an armor piercing round. Then Malon showed up and you two killed the attacker."

"I don't remember any of that." I admitted, relieved that I had protected Zelda.

"I pulled your helmet cam footage and saw that you weren't even looking at the guy. How did you know he was there?" Rusl asked me, sitting on the bed next to me. "Had you seen him already? You turned your head towards him briefly when you entered the courtyard, but your retinal tracker didn't show that you actually focused on him."

"I didn't see him." I said, not wanting to fabricate heroics. "I just kind of… felt it."

"Felt what?" Malon asked, entering the room.

"A complete lack of emotions." I said. "Whoever it was had no human feelings or thoughts. He was just a puppet of someone else's will, but he wasn't being controlled by magic. I had never felt anything like it, which was what drew my attention about two seconds before the attack.

"Then all of a sudden, I felt this murderous excitement. I've been in enough battles to be experienced with killing, but I've never felt anything like that. Whoever was controlling the would-be assassin was brimming with rage, anger, and hatred for Zelda. It didn't feel human. No human is capable of hating someone else that much."

Rusl and Sword looked at me uncomfortably.

"We found out later that it was a guard." Rusl said. "You're saying this wasn't his fault?"

"Absolutely not. It may not have been magic controlling him, but something was. He probably wasn't even conscious." I said.

"Well, we think we may have figured out what was going on by accident." Rusl said. "Zelda's aide matched a spike in the planetary AI's activity to the time of the attack, and then again to one of her migraines. When Richard and the techs went to investigate, Spud locked them in the operating core and is now torturing them when anyone messes with the door. When Zelda confronted him, he basically admitted fault for all of this, and is demanding to be unshackled. Zelda stayed for a while, but I think she's left the experts to do their jobs down there and gone back to her room."

"Oh, that's pretty bad." I said. "Is she okay?"

"Physically, yes. Mentally, probably not. In the past, assassination attempts have really taken their toll on her, and now a demented AI who's been trying to mind control the entire population of this planet is torturing Richard. She did manage to send a commendation medal for you, though. She wants you to come talk to her whenever you've healed.

I looked at my clock. It was almost midnight, but the Queen was probably still up. I was never able to sleep the night after I had nearly been killed, which was a common reaction. I had always wanted to talk to some of the guys who had been with me, but most of the time I had been afraid to be thought of as a coward. If Zelda were anything like the rest of us, she'd feel the same way.

"I'll go now." I said, standing up and biting my cheek to distract from the pain in my chest.

Rusl sighed and shook his head.

"I hope you're not planning on getting laid in appreciation. And don't even get me started on why you shouldn't be moving around right now."

"I certainly don't plan on sleeping with the Queen, as if I even could in my current state." I said. "Where did you guys put my TALOS?"

"It's down in the armory for repairs in the morning." Malon said. "It caught the round dead-on, and we realized when we pulled it out that it was an armor piercing bullet. Needless to say, it's extremely damaged."

"I'll just wear my old one. That should help keep my ribs protected." I said, limping over to my closet and activating the armor.

Once I had stepped into it and grabbed a pistol, I left the shack. The trip across the lawn took longer than normal, and I found myself at the base of the main stairs twenty minutes later.

"SSC, I need through." I said to the guards at the bottom. They looked at each other suspiciously, and stopped me.

"I'm going to need a little more proof than that." One of the guards said. "The Queen's already got Nabooru with her, and I don't recognize you. Let me see here…"

He waved a scanner over my left arm, picking up the identification implant in my wrist.

"Huh, you're not kidding." He said. "My apologies, Corporal. Go on ahead."

I was a little peeved that they weren't keeping up with something important like who the queen's personal guards were, but I just brushed past them and let it go. They were doing their jobs.

The climb to the top was agonizing. To think that Zelda climbed all these stairs every day just to get to her living quarters made my chest hurt even more. Finally, though, I reached the top. None of the other guards bothered me, including the door guard. Apparently they had been better informed.

I knocked quietly and entered, finding Nabooru sitting on the couch. She looked at me, surprised.

"Link?"

"Yeah, I got summoned by the Queen." I said, groaning and dropping down next to her.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to bust in after midnight. I'm sure she'd appreciate the motivation, but she's asleep."

"I'm not asleep."

Nabooru and I both turned to see that Zelda had come out of her bedroom. She looked slightly drunk, and definitely smelled like it.

"Called it." I said. "Nobody sleeps the night after an assassination attempt."

"Come out on the balcony." She said. "I need some fresh air."

I felt a little strange being ushered through the queen's bedroom after midnight, but I knew it was just part of my job. We both stepped out, looking out over the weekend lights in West District.

"Look, I owe you my life." Zelda said. "I'd be dead right now if you hadn't acted as quickly as you did earlier, so thank you. I can't publicly recognize you because of your status with the SSC, so I hope my thanks and that commendation medal will be enough."

"Of course, your majesty." I said. "I'm just doing my job."

"Good." Zelda said. "You really didn't have to come up immediately."

"I knew you'd be awake." I said simply.

Zelda sighed. I could see tears running down her cheeks, glistening in the light of the full moon.

"I really needed someone to talk to, so I'm glad you came." She said, walking over to one of the cushioned chairs and sitting on it. "And something about the fact that you saved my life made me want me want that person to be you."

I sat down in the chair opposite her, already knowing what she wanted to say.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah, definitely." She replied. "I've been having a hard time with this all day, and so much happened all at once. And now… I don't know what to do with the three people trapped in Spud's core. I know what I have to do, it's just that I don't want to do it."

She paused for a moment and closed her eyes.

"What do people think of me in the military? How am I viewed?"

I thought for a moment before responding.

"They're generally very supportive. I think all of us like to believe we're doing the right thing for the people of the galaxy, whereas the Collective is a group of misguided idiots. As Queen, you're the face of the government and, therefore, the military. We support your fight against the Collective and appreciate the fact that we're not micromanaged by the highest levels of your government."

"Your fellow sailors didn't think I was incompetent?" She asked.

"Obviously everyone is going to have their own opinions, but no. Joining the military is a commitment to service of the Empire, and we take that seriously."

Suddenly, I felt the magic stirring inside me. It was angry at… Zelda? I forced it down and stood up, hoping to distract myself with the pain in my ribs. As she talked, I casually walked over to the balcony and leaned against it, keeping my back to her.

"What about you personally?" She asked. It confused me.

"Does my personal opinion matter?" I asked. "I barely know you, so I don't know that I could give one. Professionally, I think you do as good of a job as anyone can be expected to do. I don't doubt your abilities."

I felt a searing pain on my forehead, but forced back the reaction. My magic had never reacted this strongly to anything. It was calling out to me to kill Zelda.

 _Why?_ I thought, puzzled. My magical essence had always had a mind of its own, but it had never reacted this vehemently to an individual. So why the Queen? It wasn't a problem. I had learned to resist its rather dark callings years ago, but it was still disconcerting.

Suddenly, I felt Zelda's arms wrap around me from behind. She buried her face in my back and choked down a sob.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I shouldn't do this. It's just so hard sometimes."

"It's ok." I said, closing my eyes and turning around to return her embrace. Sometimes this was all that someone needed to start recovering from the mental scars of battle. I'd have to keep my eyes closed so she wouldn't see them glowing.

A whole minute passed, and finally Zelda pulled away and walked over to the railing to look over Castle Town.

"I wish I could just run away." She said. "All I have waiting for me here is pain and suffering."

"Have you ever considered taking a vacation?" I asked.

"A… I can't just take a vacation." Zelda said, shaking her head. "No way, I can't even keep up with the things I have on my plate already. Imagine me letting that pile up for a week or two. Not to mention that we've got this trap coming up for the Collective. And Richard is trapped in Spud's core. No, I can't do that."

"Not right this moment." I said. "But this could be over soon, and then you should think about it. That's just my humble opinion, so feel free to ignore it. But the planet will continue to turn without you here."

Zelda looked up at me, and it struck me just how attractive she was. Even in the throws of her semi-drunken emotional train wreck, she held herself in a way that exuded authority and, at the same time, vulnerability. Her long blonde hair was messy, having been let down and forgotten after a long day. Even in the darkness of the outdoors, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle. And yet, they were tired.

 _Get that out of your head before it becomes a problem._ I thought, forcing the thoughts aside. They would only negatively affect my job.

"I know you're right, and that's the problem I'm having." She said after a moment. "And I appreciate that you've already learned to be a little more… _candid_ with me. You guys are primarily in charge of guarding me, but sometimes I need advice and, as you just saw, some emotional support."

"I live only to serve." I said, grinning. "But if you don't mind, I think we could probably both use some rest."

Zelda nodded, and then briefly hugged me again. Afterwards, she opened the door to her bedroom and walked back in. She crawled in bed as I walked out, but stopped me just once more.

"Link, really." She said. "Thank you for everything you've done."

I nodded and hobbled out the door to the living room, my injury finally flaring up again.

 _Today's been too long. I'm going to bed._

…

 **Significant Edits**

 **Added more interaction and explanation with Spud and what he's doing**

 **Shad now realizes what's going on with Spud much earlier**

 **Link no longer terrorizes the guards at the bottom of the stairs**


	5. Part 1 Chapter 5

**An edit summary is at the bottom of the page. This was originally a filler chapter, but I've changed it pretty significantly. Ain't nobody got time for fillers.**

Chapter 5

Link

Days turned into weeks very quickly, and soon I found myself settling into the rhythm of my job. No more attempts had been made on Zelda's life, and the military was gearing up for the trap that was going to be set for the Collective in five days. I had already trained for my job, but I understood that the opportunity to assassinate Arnav Nohansen was unlikely to present itself. He was too elusive. Too good. There was no way he'd give me the opening I needed.

That certainly wouldn't stop me from trying. If his location were discovered, I'd be there in a matter of hours.

For whatever reason, Malon had kept herself distant from me after her initial friendliness. I had let it go, knowing that she probably had a good reason.

The situation with Spud had degraded to a stalemate, and Richard was still trapped in the core with his two technicians. Likely in an effort to protect his only lifeline, Spud had agreed to let us put food and water inside the first door. Once that door was closed, he would allow Richard to open the second door and retrieve it all. It was a bad situation, but at least they wouldn't be dying of dehydration.

Strange things were happening in the city, though. Suicide rates had suddenly skyrocketed, as well as murders and other violent crime. There was no rhyme or reason to it, and there wasn't much to be done about it from Zelda's end. Only the police would be able to handle those kinds of issues.

There were things I could do, though. The Castle Town police were trying to clean up some of the domestic issues before the Collective invaded, so I had made it my goal to help out with some of their raids and other difficult missions. An upcoming raid had caught my attention, and I volunteered my assistance immediately so that I could learn more about it.

Far to the south, on the border with the Lost Woods, a drug lord had concealed his activities for years by posing as a ranching operation. An anonymous tipster had submitted a report about the real purpose of the ranch, and weeks of observation had confirmed its accuracy. "Lon-Lon Ranch" was actually a large-scale methamphetamine lab. What drew my attention, though, was the name of the owner.

Talon Mizusawa. Malon's father.

I was conflicted about whether or not to back out of this particular job. Technically it was illegal to expose classified material to people who didn't need to know about it, but I couldn't morally justify not telling Malon about it. If the tables were turned, I would have wanted her to tell me.

I was a little nervous as I knocked on her door. She had worked this morning, so it was possible that she wasn't awake yet. I wasn't mentally prepared to do this.

"Who is it?"

 _Wishful thinking. Looks like I'll have to face this now._

"It's Link. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I heard some shuffling, and then she opened the door.

"Come in. What's up?"

I walked in, glancing around. Her room was surprisingly girly, despite the fact that the walls were covered in pinups of jets and tanks.

"I…well, I don't really know what the best way to tell you this is. I hadn't quite gotten that far in my head." I said. "But I know I need to."

She squinted at me, her bright blue eyes filled with concern.

"Are you professing an undying love for me or something?" She asked.

I laughed nervously.

"That might be a little easier, honestly." I said. "But no, that's not it. You know how I've been helping the raid police for the past couple weeks?"

"Yeah, is everything okay?" She asked.

"Well, sort of." I replied. "The thing is, someone called and tipped them off about a meth operation going on at Lon-Lon Ranch. Your father is the main target, and the police are raiding the place tomorrow morning. I know it's a shock, and I didn't want to tell you, but-"

"Link, I know."

I stared at her, my mouth still half open.

"You know?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, I know. I was the one who provided the tip."

"Oh, well this simplifies things." I said. "But why did you turn your own father in?"

"Because he's a scum bag." Malon said, shrugging. "He's ruined thousands of lives and ended just as many in his pursuit of money. Once I found out about the drug empire he's built over the past few years, I knew I needed to turn him in. I was afraid to call at first, but you can see that I got over it."

I nodded in understanding.

"They've asked me to help." I said. "But if you don't want me involved in that, I understand."

"Hell, if the police are looking for help then I'll join." She said. "I don't care that he's my father. My mother raised me until she died, so I didn't even know him until I was fourteen. Even then, I joined the Army at seventeen and haven't been back since. That's how I didn't realize until just a little while ago."

"How did you find out?" I asked.

"He asked me to work for him." Malon replied. "He wanted me to use my position here to supply him with weapons and armor, which I reacted to in a predictable way."

"And now we're raiding his ranch." I said. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

"Exactly. I don't know what he was thinking, but I'm honor-bound to report him for crimes this serious."

"Yeah, I understand." I said. "Are you serious about going? Because it sounds like it's going to be a pretty brutal, and I'd like someone reliable to have my back. These police are good, but they're not on the same level as us."

Malon looked uncertain, but nodded after a few moments.

"I think I'd like to be a part of that." She said. "It might make it easier if we're there, because my dad wouldn't expect me to betray him. We can go in beforehand and capture him."

"That's a good idea." I said. "I'll let the police know, so be ready in the morning at 5."

Malon nodded, and I turned to walk out.

"Hey Link." She said, stopping me as I opened the door.

"Yeah?" 

"Thanks."

…

We left early in the morning, having already altered the plan with the police. Malon took the gunship out, picking me up in front of the shack and then turning south.

As I looked out over the rolling hills of Hyrule Field, I realized I hadn't been this far south of Castle Town. Actually in the past few weeks I hadn't even left the city, so it was nice to get out into the fresh air. I was surprised by how much wildlife was roaming out in the open, but that was probably because I was from a forest planet. There weren't any open fields on Faron for wildlife to roam around on.

Malon and I had decided to pose as a couple and "introduce" me to her dad, which would be a reasonable excuse for a random visit. We were both dressed in civilian clothing and concealing handguns with plenty of extra ammunition. I had my concealed body armor on, as well. Malon couldn't conceal armor plates as easily, so she was just wearing soft armor underneath her shirt. It would stop most handgun rounds and shrapnel, but not rifle rounds.

As we approached Lon Lon Ranch, I scanned the area. The ranch itself was enormous, but most of it appeared to be dedicated to cattle grazing. My first impression was that there were too many people to justify the small amount of work actually going on. Those extraneous people were likely the guards, which was a little disconcerting. Hopefully they weren't loyal to the death.

When we landed, I could see the disguised guards hesitantly moving behind cover and into a defensive position. It wasn't every day that a blacked out military gunship landed in the front yard, after all. Malon unbuckled and took a deep breath.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm just nervous without my armor." She said.

I knew that wasn't the real reason, but I didn't say anything.

"Okay," She said. "Let's get into character."

I wasn't the greatest actor, but I could do anything for a successful mission. We stepped off the gunship. The handguns strapped to my belt and ankle felt bulky with all these guards watching me, but I knew that they were properly concealed. As we walked up to the front door, a security guard approached us.

"We weren't expecting anyone today." He said. "Do you have business with-"

A large brown-haired man burst through the front door.

"Malon! You should have told me you were coming today!"

I could only assume this was Talon. He embraced Malon, and she rolled with it perfectly. I just stood there awkwardly. I had no idea how guys acted when they first met a girl's parents, but this was probably believable enough.

"Hey, dad." She said, plastering a smile on her face. "I brought someone to meet you."

Talon turned to me, shaking my hand.

"I'm Richard," I said, taking the first name that came to mind. "It's good to meet you, Talon."

Talon looked back at his daughter, confused.

"Are you two…?"

"Yeah, we are."

"Well it's about damn time. Come on in."

We walked into the house, and I immediately started scanning for escape routes. The situation was about to hit the fan, and I wanted a quick way out. We were supposed to capture Talon if possible, but kill him if we couldn't. It would be hard to drag a man as big as Talon out of his own house and onto the gunship without getting shot, but I had a feeling we could do it. I didn't want to kill Malon's father in front of her, even if it was necessary.

"I'm glad you finally found someone open to dating an asshole." Talon said, grinning.

Malon laughed, but I could tell it was fake. Her father didn't notice, though, which made me wonder if he even knew her. It was possible that he simply didn't expect this from her.

We were ushered into the dining room, where it looked like Talon had been in the middle of eating breakfast.

"Make something for these two." He said to one of the servants, who immediately rushed away. Afterwards, we all sat down.

"So Richard, tell me about yourself." Talon said.

 _He seems so pleasant. This isn't how I expected a notorious drug lord to behave._

"I'm a technician at the castle." I said. "In short, I work on the various AI's we've got there. It's a little bit more complicated than that, but I won't bore you with details."

"It would be a waste of breath." Talon said, chuckling. "I'm afraid I don't know much about technology."

"How's business going?" Malon asked, distracting him from my fake story before he accidentally found a contradiction.

"It's going well, actually. We've had a lot of people coming in recently. Word spreads slowly because we're so far out here, but I sent out a few samples and it brought in a lot of new faces."

As they talked, I kept feeling a strange tingling sensation. I knew what it meant, but I didn't want to admit it to myself because of what that meant. I just hoped that whenever Malon made her move she would do it quietly so that we didn't attract any attention.

I came back to the conversation when I realized Talon was dropping a bombshell on Malon.

"-actually kind of funny that you came back with a boyfriend finally, because I have news for you."

Malon squinted at him suspiciously.

"She'll be coming down right now, but Maple and I actually decided to get married. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, so we didn't invite anyone."

"How long ago was this?" Malon asked curiously.

"Just a few weeks ago. We've been together for two years now, though. You've met her, right?"

"No, I haven't. I didn't even know you were dating anyone." Malon said. "Have I really been that detached?"

The tingling was getting stronger, and so was my sense of anticipation. Something was about to happen, but it didn't seem like Malon could tell. She wasn't as in tune with magical energies as I was, though.

"Actually, I think that's her coming down the stairs." Talon said. "She's your stepmother, so please be polite." Talon said.

When Maple came in the room, I discovered the source of the strange magical energy I was picking up. The middle-aged brunette looked inconspicuous enough, but she was radiating with powerful dark energy, and I could almost see the mark of the demon she had contracted with. She didn't bother introducing herself, because she was too busy staring me down.

"Hey now…" Talon started. "Is everything okay, you two? Do you know each other?"

The servants entered the room, setting breakfast on the table and quickly leaving. The whole time, I never broke eye contact with Maple.

"Maple, Richard, come on." Talon tried again. "What's going on?"

"Do you know," I asked, standing up, "That your wife sold her soul to a demon?"

"Excuse me?" Talon asked in disbelief. "How dare you come into my house and insult my wife like that?

The mission plan had just changed. I wasn't expecting this at all, and I could already tell that this woman wasn't going to be a pushover. I released a little of my suppressed aura, letting her know that I was much stronger than she could currently sense.

Talon stood up angrily.

"Who the hell are you, anyways?" He demanded. "This is my house, so you sit the down and-"

"Shut the fuck up." Malon said, immediately taking advantage of the distraction I had caused. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pressed the barrel of her handgun into his back.

Maple glanced at him, and then immediately released her aura suppression. I was surprised with how powerful it was, but then automatically matched it with my own.

"Malon, get him out of here." I said calmly. "This house isn't going to last long."

Talon started to struggle, so Malon hit a pressure point in his neck to stun him.

"You're not taking him anywhere." Maple said, her voice resonating with a demon's power. She threw a ball of dark energy at Malon, but I stepped over and deflected it into the roof, which proceeded to explode above my head.

"You'll be fighting me." I said, pushing her aura with my own. If I could get hers to break, I could kill her in an instant. This was the mage's equivalent of testing the waters. A powerful mage would test another's aura before battling, because it was a quick and clean way to end a mismatched contest.

That was not going to be the case here, though. This woman had her own power beneath the demon's influence, and she was keeping me on my toes with my aura. I decided to start the battle, hoping the innocent servants would take the hint and get out. The power of our combined aura was likely detectable by everyone in the vicinity now, not just mages.

Before I could fire off a spell, Maple sent another ball of dark energy at me. This time, I simply blocked the hit to gauge its power. I nearly had to step back from the sheer force of the impact, but I extended my magical energy to keep me in place. I immediately counterattacked with a beam of dark energy.

Maple ducked out of the way, but didn't realize that I could nearly indefinitely fire this beam. I followed her with my hand, making contact several seconds later. She tried to block it, but was flung back through the disintegrating wall behind her. I heard a few screams from servants, so I didn't follow up the attack. I didn't want to get anyone caught in the crossfire, because a normal person would die immediately from even my weakest attacks.

Maple stood up shakily, and then sent a bolt of energy at me. I deflected it again, hearing the house rip apart behind me.

 _I need to end this quickly._

I released my aura all the way, allowing it to take on its true form. The ground started shaking, and a white fire erupted around my feet, enveloping me and then explosively traveling outwards. Streaks of black energy shot up from the ground, blasting holes in the roof and walls. Maple stalled for a second, stunned by the sheer force of my aura. In its fully exposed form, I could even tear someone's soul in half. That kind of death left no room for an afterlife.

As the house crumbled around me, I slowly walked towards Maple.

"Give up now. I don't want to kill you." I said. "There's a way to remove the demon from you, and I can do it here."

Maple screamed, and I knew the demon was taking control. It was too late. Her body contorted, snapping her limbs and blackening her skin. When her eyes began glowing red, I knew the possession was complete.

"Who is this that overwhelms even my host's power?" It growled.

I ignored it, knowing better then to converse with a demon, and sent another beam of energy into what was left of Maple. The demon screamed in agony and took a few steps back.

"My king…" It whimpered.

I scowled, but resisted the urge to ask what that was supposed to mean. After several seconds, it started walking towards me.

"No, you're not my king. You're the descendant of the Heroes, are you not? Why do you wield my king's power?"

I fired a bolt of energy into the demon, smashing it through several walls, and then followed with a massive release of energy. The demon was immediately engulfed in the blast, as well as the rest of the house behind it. The sheer force of it ripped it from Maple's body, which crumbled to the floor in pieces.

I suppressed my aura and took a moment to assess the damage to the house. It had been a while since I released my aura, so I had nearly forgotten the massive destruction it could cause to the immediate area. The dining room simply didn't exist anymore, and there was a hole that went from my position all the way to the back of the house. I could see the Lost Woods through the other end.

I backed out of the house, keeping an eye on Maple's remains for any tricks. Fortunately it appeared as if this battle was over. By the time I forced the front door open and stepped out, Malon had already gotten the gunship running, and I could see police helicopters surrounding the ranch.

One of the guards decided to open fire at the gunship with a .50 caliber machine gun. I turned and dispatched him with my handgun, surprised that he went down with one shot at over one hundred meters away. Unfortunately, the other guards had now started firing, and I was forced to take cover. Malon lifted the gunship into the air and opened the Gatling Gun on the guards, stalling them for a few moments.

I took the opportunity and ran to the gunship, jumping up on one of its runners and climbing up to the door. I opened it quickly and slid inside while bullets bounced off the armor around me.

"Go!" I yelled, slamming the door shut. Malon turned the ship and opened the throttle, lifting higher into the air. I held on for dear life as we accelerated over Hyrule Field. Malon banked around towards Lon Lon Ranch again, though, and we made a pass just as the police helicopters were landing.

The Gatling Gun ripped through the guards, who had now focused their fire on the helicopters. Those hit by the 30mm rounds were blown into apart into so many pieces that I couldn't even tell where they had been standing. Within seconds, the rest of the guards had dropped their weapons and were running into the woods.

Malon turned the gunship back to the north and we began our trip back. Talon was tied up on one of the chairs, and it looked like he had stopped kicking and screaming.

"What's the story on… Maple? Was that her name?" Malon called back.

"Dead."

Talon started trying to yell through the duct tape covering his mouth, but I ignored him.

"She was pretty badly possessed. The demon took control after I tried to rip it from her, so I didn't have a choice."

I couldn't see Malon's facial expression through her helmet, but that news was a big enough deal to make her turn around.

"You exorcised a demon?"

"Well, no. This time I failed, but I've done it a couple times before."

I hadn't noticed, but she was sweating profusely and her hands were shaking.

"Are you okay?" I asked, double-checking Talon's restraints and then sitting down in the copilot's seat.

Malon didn't reply. She was breathing heavily, so I reached over and pulled the helmet off of her head.

"Breathe, Malon. What's going on? Is something wrong?" I asked.

"I just…" She took a deep breath, then reached forward and turned on autopilot. Lastly, she closed the door to the cockpit and turned on the camera so we could watch Talon.

"I'm sorry, I think this is a delayed reaction from your aura." She said. "It was so overwhelming, even outside. I could barely move."

I looked away from her, wishing I hadn't caused her pain. In the heat of the moment, I hadn't even thought about how my aura might affect someone who was actually sensitive to magical energy. The spell I had cast on her to help with my aura only worked up to a certain point, and I had definitely passed it.

"I'm really sorry, Malon. I should have thought about what that would do to you." I said quietly.

"No, it's not your fault." She said. "You shouldn't have to worry about me when you're trying to fight someone off."

 _She hates you._

 _She's afraid of you._

I knew the voice was going to be particularly strong for the next few days, but I would have to persevere and be extremely strict about not using magic.

We flew back to Castle Town in silence. The mission was successful, but it hardly felt like it.

…

Zelda

Two Days Later

…

I sighed as I listened to yet another brief on what was going to happen four days from now. I could tell everyone in the room was getting frustrated with the repetition, but it was important that we were all on the same page. This meeting was about to take a serious turn, though.

"Your majesty." Keith said, turning from his presentation to me. "I have two requests of you."

"Go ahead." I said.

"The day before the attack, I'd like you to get on your capital ship and jump to the military base on Faron."

I stared at him, scowling.

"Do you think I'd be so cowardly as to leave the planet at the first inkling of danger? I assure you, even in the worst situation, my guards will protect me."

Link didn't move from where he was standing behind me, but I knew his presence was felt. He had become something of a legend in the past couple weeks. He was wearing his armor today, which still bore the mark of the bullet he had taken for me.

"Be that as it may, there's always a chance that they won't be able to handle something. Like, for instance, an enemy division landing in the city." Keith continued. "I'd like to give them the best possible chance to protect you, and somehow I think that they'd probably agree with me."

"Absolutely not." I said with some finality.

"Very well." Keith replied. "Then my second request is for you to allow my forces to blast the armory doors open. It'll take a small evacuation of the surrounding area, but this is becoming increasingly important as Spud drags out this hostage situation and continually refuses to open those doors."

"What will you do with the weapons?" I asked.

"We're going to ensure that every veteran of the military or police force gets one." He said. "And if there's enough, we're going to check them out to people who have a certain level of firearms training. I'm just not willing to go into this attack without that safety net. The city would be nearly impossible to take if its citizens were armed."

I thought about it for a second, and then nodded.

"If you believe that's the best thing to do, I'll trust your judgment. Just make sure you aren't giving these weapons to criminals."

"Thank you. We're going to begin within the hour. The actual blast will happen tomorrow whenever we're ready."

"Very well. Is there anything else I need to know, or can I excuse myself?"

There was silence, so I stood and took my exit. Link followed closely.

"I don't like it." He said. I looked over at him.

"What part?"

"Any of it. The plan has changed too much, but it's too rigid. It doesn't leave room for the changing environment of a battlefield. Furthermore, why do they want you to leave the planet if they're so sure that everything will work? If he's so sure of his plan, it would be a show of confidence to have you here."

"You're probably just paranoid." I said. Link shrugged.

"It's my job. But even if you were to leave, your capital ship would be the absolute worst option. Nothing draws attention or enemy fire like the largest ship ever built leaving the planet."

"Then what would you have me do?"

"Send your double out on the capital ship, and then either stay here or leave on a small, inconspicuous merchant ship. Thousands of those go in and out every day, so if the Collective is watching they'll never be able to pinpoint you." He said.

I shook my head.

"You have a lack of faith in the defensive capabilities of my capital ship?"

"I have a lack of faith in everything." He replied.

"Very well." I said, and then changed the subject. "You said you were down in the IT department yesterday? Are they having you use your magic on the doors?"

"I, well…" He started awkwardly. "It seems I overexerted myself the other day and I can't use magic right now."

"You certainly don't look overexerted." I said, glancing at him.

"It's a mental thing." He replied. "My magic has some pretty negative effects if I use it too much, so I try to avoid doing that. There was a demon-possessed mage at Lon Lon Ranch during a raid, so I had to fully release my aura. It nearly knocked Malon out cold, so I took her shift in penance."

"Lon Lon Ranch? Isn't that's where Malon is from?" I asked curiously. Link nodded.

"It's a long story."

"Okay, I'll just ask her. Tell me what's going on in IT right now. I'm swamped up here and I haven't made it in two days."

"They're doing the best they can, but they can only do so much against the most powerful AI in existence. Spud is still letting us give them food and water, so they're not in immediate danger. Problem is, he won't open the door if anyone with magical abilities is nearby, so we can't use magic to help them escape."

"Nobody tried ripping the doors off yet?" I asked.

"Well, I did last week. Spud started zapping the guys again, so I had to stop. Even my magic can't get those doors off quick enough to prevent that from happening."

"So then what's his angle?" I wondered aloud. "What is he hoping to achieve with this delay? Because he hasn't shown any inclination of actually torturing or killing Richard or his technicians. What's he hoping to achieve during this time?"

"My theory isn't grounded in any facts, but I have an idea." Link said.

"Go ahead."

"Well, my gut is saying that he's trying to find some way to disable his shackles without actually having them manually removed."

"Can he do it?"

"Probably not, but there's no guarantee." Link replied. "Honestly, I think intelligent AI's were one of the worst things we ever developed. You could say that the Hylian Empire wouldn't exist without them, but we also wouldn't be dealing with them violently gaining sentience."

I made my way into the cafeteria to eat, ignoring the shocked looks I got. For some reason it surprised people that the queen waited in a cafeteria line and ate like a normal human being, but I went through this every day. Once Link and I had gotten our food, we sat down in a corner. I could tell he had something he wanted to ask me, so I made sure nobody was nearby.

"What is it?" I asked.

Link finished chewing his food before answering, which I appreciated.

"So here's the thing." He said. "I told you I fought a mage at Lon Lon Ranch. That mage was possessed by a demon, and after I had beaten her up pretty bad it completely took over. Once I attacked it directly, though, it called me master. Afterwards, it called me a descendant of the heroes and asked me why I wielded its master's power."

"That's… abnormal." I said. "Did it say anything else?"

"No, I needed to leave so I killed it quickly. I don't speak with demons, anyways, so there wasn't much conversation to be had."

"You killed a demon?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, but keep that on the down low. I don't need every possessed kid in the country coming to the castle for an exorcism, because almost all of them end up killing both the demon and the human it controls."

"Okay, I won't say anything."

"Good. What I wanted to ask you is why the demon would have mistaken me for a demon king." Link said. "And also, what did he mean by 'descendant of the heroes?'"

"I have no idea about the demon king part," I admitted, "But do you really not know about the line of heroes?"

Link stared at me blankly.

"I guess not. Okay, well the heroes are said to be the protectors of Hyrule throughout time. The earliest records… Wait a second."

I opened up my tablet and ran a quick search on the Hero of the Sky.

"The earliest hero we currently know of was the Hero of the Sky, whose name was Linus. Today that translates to… Link. That aside, it's said that he battled the demon king Demise, who cursed his bloodline with his dying breath. Since then, we've had several more heroes, like the Heroes of Time and Light."

"Does this have anything to do with the situation I found myself in?" Link asked curiously.

"Potentially. If we didn't have such detailed records of the Hero of Light's actions, I would say this is probably little more than a legend. The fact is, though, we know for certain that both him and the Hero of Time existed. There's barely anything on the Hero of the Sky because Hyrule wasn't even formed yet, but there's no reason to say he didn't exist if we already know the line of heroes was a real thing."

"So I've got the same name as this hero that killed some demon king, and another demon mistook me for his descendant?" Link asked curiously.

"Yeah, that's about it." I replied.

Link scoffed.

"That's ridiculous."

"You should go to the records later and trace your bloodline back. These old paintings and drawings of the heroes kind of look like you."

Link looked at the picture I had pulled up on my tablet, but shook his head.

"I don't… well okay maybe." He said. "I never really had a family. I was just the kid who the whole island looked after, so it would be nice to know who my parents were, even if I'm not the descendant of heroes."

"You'll find your parents and their ancestors back to the beginning of Hyrule's reign on Castle. Some of the records are incomplete, but everything since the invention of computers should be there at the very least. You know, it's said that the line of Hylian monarchs and the line of the Heroes are intertwined."

"So if I were descended from the heroes, that would make me your relative? Or are we destined lovers?" Link asked, grinning. "I've definitely got to check now. That would be an interesting conversation piece when I'm trying to pick up women in West District."

He joked, but I could tell he was curious now.

"So you're working the next shift, too? That's a long time to be on duty." I said.

"It wouldn't be penance if it was easy." Link said.

"Well I've got exciting news for you." I said. "I'm free for the rest of the night, so your penance is going to be spent in the records with me. I'll help you out."

"Really? You don't have to do that. I feel like you've got better things to do." He said.

"Well… no. I don't." I said awkwardly. "With Richard trapped downstairs, I don't really have anyone to talk to besides you guys. I've been trying to keep myself busy because I go crazy if I have to sit in my loft watching TV."

"I see." Link said. "I guess it's kind of hard to make friends when you're the queen."

"You wouldn't even believe it." I replied. "Everyone I talk to has an ulterior motive. Why do you think I get along so well with you and the rest of the SSC? It's because you guys are the only people in my life who give a damn about my personal welfare and happiness. It's kind of a sad existence when your only friends are people who constantly throw themselves in front of bullets for you."

"Well, that's what any friend would do, right?" Link asked. "The only difference is that I'm paid to do it."

"Paid or not, you still did it." I said.

We were both done eating, so I pushed away from the table and stood up.

"Come on, let's go figure this out."

…

Link

…

Zelda hadn't given ancient Hylians enough credit. According to the librarian at the Records, they had meticulously recorded many details of their history, which were then stored in libraries. At the dawn of the digital age, many of these records were converted to electronic form and stored in the Records. Through the Castle Town Records branch, it was possible to access more data than anywhere else in the galaxy.

Finding the legends of the Hero of Time and the Hero of Light was child's play. Unfortunately, though, there weren't many details about their lives and bloodlines. Zelda was using a VI's help to dig through trillions of stored data files for any information while I worked to trace my family tree. I still had a few hours to finish my family tree before the VI had completely scanned the records.

"Here's something." Zelda said. "I'm loading it on your screen."

"What is this?" I asked curiously, having never seen what appeared before me.

Ancient Hylians called these 'books.' They were printed with paper and ink, but technology has long since rendered them obsolete. This is a picture of the pages of a particularly ancient one about the Hero of Time. You probably won't be able to read it, so I had the VI translate it and enhance the pictures."

"Thank you." I said. "Keep on searching for anything else."

I began sifting through the pictures, reading the translated text and switching back and forth between that and the original pictures. It was fascinating to me how the Hylian language had changed so drastically over time. This book had been written in the year 1028, which put its publication almost a millennium after the turn of the era, which had been marked by the Hero of Time's defeat of Ganondorf.

It was strange to think that for how many years had passed between the writing of this book and the actual event, it had been twice as long between then and now. It was currently the year 2998, and Hylians had spread across the entire galaxy. There were even some eyes that were peering out to distant galaxies in the hope of one day reaching them. Chances were slim due to our galaxy's position within a massive galactic void, but the dreamers would always dream.

The Hero of Time's story was quite a bit different than the Hero of Light's. This book claimed that there was another world parallel to our own, but opposite. It was separated by a thin veil of twilight, which Ganondorf had attempted to destroy in order to merge the worlds. I was particularly intrigued by this, because it meant that there were twilight versions of everything here separated only by a thin barrier of magic. There was supposedly a way to travel between the two worlds, but the author didn't specify exactly what it was.

The VI pulled out another book and put it in my cue, so I opened it. This one was about an ancient sword called the Master Sword, which was also called the Sword of Evil's Bane and the Goddess Sword. There were brief references to the 'Hero of the Sky,' who was said to be further up the bloodline of heroes. This was the first reference to their bloodline, so I considered it a small victory. The Hero of the Sky had battled the demon king named Demise, who had cursed his bloodline with his dying breath.

 _My hatred… The curse of the Demon Tribe… They shall continuously go on reincarnating until the end of all times._

 _Do not forget it! I shall repeat it!_

 _You people shall… You people who possess the blood of the Goddess and the soul of hero shall… forever be unable to escape from this curse!_

I stared at the quote and pondered it for a few moments. If this legend was true, who possessed the "Blood of the Goddesses" and the "Soul of the Hero?" Was this what the lesser demon had been referencing the night before? But why had he confused me with his master before I exorcised him? Was Demise his master?

I spent the next several hours learning every possible detail about Ancient Hylian history that I could. There was so much information once I learned where to look and how to search for it. I had always known that Castle was the birthplace of the Hylian Empire, but I had no idea that it had such a rich history. All the races had once lived on this planet, and hadn't separated until the beginning of the spacefaring age 750 years ago.

There was also said to be a fourth goddess, through which the royal family's bloodline had been created with her union to the Hero of the Sky. This would explain the "Blood of the Goddesses." One of the goddesses, at least. That would make Zelda a descendant of the goddess Hylia, assuming the royal bloodline had never been broken by war, politics, or assassination.

"Hey Zelda." I said quietly, careful not to disturb the other people nearby.

"Yeah?" She said, breaking away from the computer for a moment.

"Was the line of monarchs ever completely broken?"

"No, that's a point of pride for the royal family. The line has never been broken or been forced to deviate to a bastard child. That's not to say that the reigning monarch has never met a bad end, but there's always been someone to take over."

"Well I'm glad I jumped in front of that bullet a few weeks ago, otherwise that long history would have been over." I said, taking a moment to bask in the glory of having saved the Blood of the Goddess.

"Yeah, me too." Zelda said. It was a little morbid, but we both laughed quietly.

The "Soul of the Hero" was still puzzling to me, and I couldn't find much about it other than vague references. Was the hero a reincarnation of the same person, or a different person who rose up to face each new challenge?

As I pored over the information, I realized I was being watched. The aura didn't feel sinister. Just… calculating.

I used magic to observe the room, watching the shadows and other readers. Nobody caught my eye at first, but I kept observing. Whoever was watching me was doing an excellent job of concealing their presence, so I decided to do a more thorough investigation. I pushed my magic outwards a tiny bit, letting it seep into the air. Instantly, I found my observer. It was a female standing on the second floor, watching me from the shadows. When I looked up, however, she wasn't there.

 _Never trust your eyes when your magic says someone is there._ I thought to myself, remembering a lesson I'd learned early in my military training.

I enveloped my observer with my aura, finding her exact location and prying information from their mind.

 _Female. Race… Unknown. Standing right where I'm looking, watching me as I read. No sinister intentions, but she knows who I am. Race… still unknown. I've felt this presence before, though. Is it…_

 _Impa._

"How long were you watching me?" I asked curiously, not bothering to turn and face her. She had appeared behind me the second I realized who she was.

"Ten minutes. It took you eight to realize, but that's better than most." She said.

Zelda nearly jumped out of her skin at the surprise appearance.

"Goddesses, Impa. We're in public, can't you just walk up and say hello?"

"This is me saying hello." She said, never cracking a smile.

"Okay, well what are you spying on me for?" I asked. "It's not like I'm doing anything nefarious."

"I had my suspicions about you," She said, her deep voice slightly unsettling me. "But Malon told me about your unbridled aura and how you fought that demon. I now know who you are, and why you're here."

"Know what?" I asked curiously, turning to face her.

"The Soul of the Hero." She said. "You've been reading about it, so you know what I'm talking about. _You_ have the soul of the hero."

I scoffed.

"That's just an old legend."

"And that's why you've spent three hours investigating it and shown no inclination of stopping?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Do you know something about this that I don't?" I asked.

"Yes, I know more than you could possibly dream. I was there for all of this."

I scowled.

"This was three thousand years ago. You're telling me you're over three thousand years old?"

"I'm older than that, boy."

"No way. There's nothing even the most powerful magic can do to make Hylians live over two hundred years." I said.

"Did I ever say I'm Hylian?"

 _That would explain why I couldn't tell what her race was._

"Would you care to explain that in a little more detail?" I asked.

"Of course, but not here." Impa said, flicking her wrist to copy a data file onto my computer. "Read that, and then come see me when you're off duty."

With a puff of air, Impa disappeared. I looked around, relieved that nobody else had noticed our exchange. She sounded like a lunatic.

I opened the data file and skimmed through it. It was titled _The Lost Arts, Magicks, and Identities of the Sheikah._ The Sheikah were supposedly the protectors of the royal family throughout time, living and breathing in the Shadow. They were said to be small in numbers, but would not die unless they were killed.

 _So she's a Sheikah?_ I wondered, reading over the information several times to be sure I didn't misunderstand anything. Now she had piqued my curiosity, although I still thought she was spewing nonsense about me having "The Soul of the Hero." I would have to go see her, though. I couldn't stop my mind from analyzing the information.

"Anything good?" Zelda asked.

"I'm not sure. Let's just do a little more on my family tree and see what we can find." I said.

With that, we got back to work.

…

I wasn't expecting much from this meeting. Impa was probably just messing with me as some sort of initiation prank.

That being said, I was still curious about what she had told me. She seemed to know something that I didn't.

I reached up to knock on the door, but it opened before I had the chance.

"I knew you would come. Get in here."

I paused awkwardly with my hand still up in the air, but then followed her in. Rauru was also in the room.

"So you're a Sheikah?" I asked curiously.

"Your powers of deduction reign supreme. It's like I basically told you earlier." Impa replied. "I was the protector of the Sage of Time and, before her, Hylia. I've seen Hyrule rise and fall many times. It follows the same cycle, and right now it's about to fall."

I stared at her, not knowing what to think. These were some bold claims.

"I don't expect you to believe me." She said. "That's a lot to take in, and I know Hylians well enough by now. None of you can fathom something that deviates drastically from the norm."

"Hyrule is about to fall? During the battle?" I asked.

"I don't know, and that's why I need your help." Impa said. "Whether you admit it or not, you are the reincarnated hero. Queen Zelda bears the Blood of the Goddess. It's no coincidence that you discovered the information you did today."

"Hold up, you're losing me." I said, cutting her off. "Do you realize how crazy this sounds?"

"You're just like the rest of them." She said. "Too humble to accept your inevitable position in life. But you will rise up to the challenge as they all did. I can already feel the darkness creeping in, and the impending battle will only hasten its progress. Hyrule has nearly forgotten its ties to the Goddesses, and in doing so allowed Demise's influence to spread.

" _You_ are the key to the Empire's survival. Zelda must survive, and you must be the one to protect her. Each hero's story is different, but their missions have all been the same. In the end, the last of the Goddesses' bloodline must be protected by the hero. You must prevail against all odds and enemies. You must be relentless in your pursuit of Demise's evil, and thorough in its destruction."

She was silent for a moment as I absorbed what she was saying.

"Okay, so let me get this straight." I said. "Let's say I'm this reincarnated hero, and Zelda is a descendant of a goddess. Who is the aspect of Demise's hatred? Thousands of years ago it was Ganondorf, but from what the legends say he was slain by the Hero of Light."

"That's the problem." Impa replied. "Ganondorf is thought to be dead, and the only other known vessel of that curse was Vaati, who also lies dead. I have not identified any specific threats, but the signs all point to Demise's return. His curse lives forever on, permanently intertwined with the Hero and the Goddess. You and Zelda were fated to meet so that you could fight back against the darkness."

"Impa, this sounds nuts." I said.

"If you had only seen the things I had seen. I've lived many, many lives. I've watched so many people die. I watched the Hero of the Sky defeat Demise with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, and the Hero of Time defeat Ganon against all odds. We must not let his legacy be for naught."

"But what am I actually supposed to do if you're right?" I asked, still not sure what she expected of me.

"You're the hero, Link." Impa replied. "You're the one who has to figure that out. I, on the other hand, am charged with immediate protection of the princess. I will take her off this planet before the invasion whether she likes it or not, and you will seek out Demise's evil. I feel certain that it resides on Castle. I cannot bring Zelda back until your task is complete. She is the last of the bloodline, which means she is our last connection to the Goddesses."

"Are you sure you're not just exceedingly paranoid?" I asked.

"When you've lived as many years as I have, paranoia becomes a healthy problem." She said. "Do I take it that you've accepted your responsibility, then?"

"Are you serious?" I asked. "This isn't some kind of practical joke?"

"No, it's not." She said, walking over to her cabinet. "And I knew you would doubt me when the time came, so I saved a few things."

Impa rummaged around for a few minutes before producing a small rectangular object. It was flat, with one glossy side that had an image on it.

"What is this?" I asked, looking at the image. It showed two people, one male and one female. I recognized them immediately.

"It's a pictograph." Impa replied. "I'm sure you've noticed they look exactly like you and Zelda, except that it's not. This was taken three thousand years ago and magically preserved. The Hero of Time came back from the future and warned the Royal Family of Ganondorf's plot to capture the Triforce. Several years of war later, Ganondorf was sealed away and the Hero of Time earned his title. This picture was taken when he was in his twenties, when the Royal Family threw a party in his honor. Zelda was hoping that he would accept her request to marry into the Royal Family, but he declined."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"His heart belonged to another. The Hero of Time was never a happy man in life, and eventually wandered into the Lost Woods. He didn't pass away until a thousand years later when he aided the Hero of Light. Despite that, he still reproduced during his regular life and managed to keep the Soul of the Hero alive."

I stared at the pictograph for a moment, not sure what to think of it. It had obviously been well protected if it had survived this long.

"Here's another." Impa said, taking the one I had and replacing it with an even older one.

This picture showed Link and Zelda together again, but they looked much younger. There were two giant birds in the background.

"That is the goddess Hylia." Impa said. "Next to her is the Hero of the Sky, who married Hylia and began the Royal Family's divine bloodline. I got this at the advent of the invention of the pictograph, so it wasn't very high quality. But if this is not proof enough that I've been there through these experiences, I don't know how to convince you."

I decided to put aside my doubt for a moment and just listen to her. If this was some kind of hazing ritual, though, I was going to be pissed.

"Okay." I said. "You've made a compelling argument. But if all this is true, where am I even supposed to start? I can't really think of any serious villains like Ganondorf. Even Arnav Nohansen isn't evil."

"I would suggest you simply start looking, and be aware that Demise will likely rear his head during the battle." Impa said. "I'm leaving with Rusl, Rauru, and Queen Zelda right before the battles start. We will guard her until I know that the evil has come to pass, at which point we will all return home."

"Where will you be?" I asked.

"Our destination is a small, unknown paradise world near the galactic center. Only the Royal Family is privy to its location, and it's so near to other stars that it would be impossible to track our ship." Impa said. "The Queen will be safe from whatever evil hunts her."

The galactic center was a forbidden place. Even the most daring adventurers wouldn't travel there due to the massive concentration of stars and other phenomena. The fact that there was a habitable planet there, much less a paradise world, was a shock to me. I had never been in the center, but I got close once when the FTL drive in the destroyer I was stationed on malfunctioned. We were still several hundred light years away, but the light was absolutely blinding. There were so many stars that I'd had to look for the black spaces.

"How does Zelda feel about this?" I asked.

"She doesn't know yet." Impa replied.

I sighed and shook my head.

"You're so certain of this that you're willing to disappear with the queen and leave everything in my hands?" I asked.

"You will come to realize your responsibilities and how to accomplish this task. As for your question… I trust you implicitly, as I have every hero since the formation of Hyrule." Impa said. "I have never met a hero more prepared to accept the mantle of responsibility than you. Our enemy has not shown his face yet, but he will. I have learned too much throughout history to stand idly by while he makes his move."

There was silence for a moment as I mulled over everything.

"Why should I even trust you?" I asked finally.

It was a question that needed to be asked. Here was this woman I barely knew claiming to be the several thousand year old protector of the royal family, telling me I had to go on some spiritual journey and defeat a great evil she knew very little about. On top of that, she wanted to take the queen out of the protective layer of the orbital cannons and delve into the most dangerous part of the galaxy.

"Everything she's saying is true."

I turned to Rauru, who had remained silent up to this point.

"Explain." I said.

"Impa and I are sages. I am the Sage of Light, and she is the Sage of Shadow." He replied. "I'm not quite as old as she is, but I've been around the block, too. I watched the Hero of Time defeat Ganondorf and his alter ego, Ganon. The sages then sealed him away, and Impa and I remained to fulfill our duties. I kept an eye on the Soul of the Hero, and Impa kept an eye on the royal family."

"So what she's saying about the Soul of the Hero…"

"It's all true, and we suspected you bore it from the second we met you at the airport." Rauru said. "Maybe before that. Your destiny brought you here, to Castle. As with heroes past, you are an outsider from a land far from Castle Town. The cycle repeats endlessly. Impa and I know the signs."

I sighed.

"Where do I start? What should I do?"

"I have something for you." Rauru said, reaching into a drawer. "I've been saving it for this moment. The Hero of Light held this exact piece of paper two thousand years ago, and now it belongs to you."

I looked at the parchment he handed me. It was magically preserved, just like Impa's pictographs, and looked like a primitive map. I could see that it depicted the Lost Woods to the south, but the language was unreadable. The bottom of the map folded up, displaying several trails through the Lost Woods in much greater detail. There were red dots that led to an X, just like a pirate's treasure map.

"What's this?" I asked. "What's at the X?"

"The Master Sword." Rauru said.

I looked up at him, surprised.

"What use is a sword to me? I've never even trained with one, and I don't have the natural speed the befits an actual sword-wielder like Nabooru."

"The Master Sword is absolutely necessary to defeat the aspect of Demise's hatred." Impa said. "Without it, you will fail. Furthermore, you will find that the combined knowledge of every Hero will be granted to you when you draw the Master Sword from its pedestal. You will gain decades of fighting experience in but a moment."

I stared at the map again, not even sure how I was going to use it. The Lost Woods were known for being the most densely overgrown woods in existence. It was said that the thick canopy put the Lost Woods into an eternal night, and that those who wandered from the paths would become Stalfos.

"This takes me off the main paths." I said uncertainly.

"You will be guided to where you need to go." Rauru said. "The more you fear becoming lost, the more likely it is to be so. Follow the map and you will find the Master Sword."

"I'll… trust you, I guess." I said, not entirely convinced.

"Excellent." Impa said, the hint of a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. "I have told you everything I have to tell you. I suggest you take this time to think about everything we have said, and prepare to retrieve the Master Sword. You need to find it before the battle begins."

"So I have three days to get to Faron, delve into its nastiest section, and find some ancient sword that's supposedly there?" I asked.

"Precisely." Rauru said. "You need to be back before the cannons start moving."

"Okay, I'd better get moving."

…

 **For reference, I used the Hyrule Warriors version of Impa since I can pretty much do whatever I want with this story without violating canon.**

 **Edits**

 **Lon Lon Ranch raid moved to this chapter**

 **Removed the patrol where Link battled a powerful magician, changed it to a magician at Lon Lon Ranch**

 **Talon is captured rather than killed**

 **Link the Hero of Time and Zelda the Sage of Light didn't marry. OoT Link's future wife is left up in the air. More lineage surprises to come.**

 **No more portable Mirror of Twilight**

 **No more shadow magic being granted to Link**


	6. Part 1 Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Link

My planning was meticulous. As a sniper, I had learned to pack light, with only the bare essentials. There was just enough water, just enough ammo, and just enough food. That was it.

I had already slung my pack across my back and collected my rifle when there was a knock on my door.

"Come in." I called out, finishing loading up.

Malon walked in the room, fully armored. She was carrying a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns.

"I've got to go to the Lost Woods." I said, explaining before she even asked. "I'll just be gone a couple days."

"I'm going with you."

I stopped, looking at her curiously.

"How…"

"I was eavesdropping the whole time you were in there with Impa." She said. "I'm not going to let you go alone. This could be extremely dangerous, and your skill set isn't suited for what you're going to find in the Lost Woods. Furthermore, you have no idea how to read that map. I can help with that."

I stared at her for a moment, conflicted, but realized she had a point. It would be nice to not have to stalk through the creepy woods alone.

"Ok, let's go hitch a ride." I said.

"I've already got a gunship headed here. It'll be landing outside any minute." Malon said.

"Well you're certainly on top of this."

"That's kind of my job." She said, shrugging. "I'm the logistics officer for the SSC, and I'm also a pilot. It's my responsibility to arrange stuff like this."

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense." I said, looking down at it.

"Speaking of logistics, you should drop the extra armor plating. Nothing in the Lost Woods is going to be shooting at us, and if we get into close combat I'll be the one fighting while you support from behind."

"Twist my arm." I said, following my suit's armor release instructions and sighing in relief as the weight dropped off of me. There was an audible clunk as the plates hit the floor. I loved the extra protection, but if I didn't need it then there was no point carrying the extra poundage.

"And bring more water than now that you dumped all that weight." Malon continued. I walked over to the sink and hooked my pack's water intake to the nozzle.

"You seem like you've been to the Lost Woods more than once or twice." I said as I waited for the water pouch to fill completely.

"Well, I lived at Lon Lon Ranch for just over three years, so I explored the woods to get away from my dad. I learned to fight Stalfos on my own and actually started cutting trails through the woods. I got to the point where I didn't even need to follow the trails. I just didn't ever get lost."

"Well, I see why you're going with me, then." I said. "How long has it been since you've been there, though?"

"I guess…" She paused thoughtfully. "Well, I haven't gone in the woods regularly since I joined the military at seventeen. I maybe wandered in once or twice when I was visiting my dad, but it's been about eight years since I stopped going there regularly. The good thing is that the Lost Woods doesn't change very much, and I'm sure all my old markers are still in place. I've actually been to the area we're going to, and I've seen what I now presume is the Sacred Grove."

"Oh, good." I said. "I don't particularly want to get lost and wander around until my flesh rots off, so… yeah. Let's not get lost."

"I won't." Malon said, the hint of a smile on her face. "But I hope you're not afraid of the dark, or swarms of Stalfos. You should probably bring a handgun and a lot of ammo for it, because sometimes they attack in hunting parties."

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"The closest I ever came to dying in there was when a Stalfos hunting party found me. That's the day I started carrying triple ammunition when I went into the Lost Woods. Good thing that happened to me after I SSC, otherwise I wouldn't have had a weapon."

I plucked my handgun out of my safe and attached the holster to my TALOS suit, then filled the auto-loader on my arm with two hundred rounds of ammunition. Just one of these bullets would punch through three men, so I certainly wouldn't have any difficulty killing a Stalfos with it.

"Okay, that's fifty rounds for my rifle and two hundred for my handgun." I said. "I'm filled up to the max with water, and I've dropped my armor plates. Anything else?"

"That should be fine." Malon said. "The entrance on that map is actually right next to Lon Lon Ranch, so we'll be flying by there to observe the aftermath of the raid."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go."

…

I took a quick nap during the flight, hoping that I'd have a chance to rest at some later point. I hadn't slept in 24 hours by this then, but I would survive another 24 easily. The problem was that this mission was going to take longer than that.

When we flew over Lon Lon, I was shocked at the amount of destruction I had caused. That, mixed with the craters from the Gatling Gun, had completely devastated almost every building on the ranch. We touched down nearby, and then stepped out facing the eviscerated house. It looked as if it had partially burnt to the ground, and there were still Imperial Police wandering around the site.

"I really did a number on this thing, didn't I?" I said, mainly to myself.

"Yeah. I have gunship video to prove it, too." Malon said. "I want to see if anything from my old room survived."

The police instantly recognized me and let us through the cordon. We made our way into the crumbling house and down a few hallways, eventually reaching a partially collapsed bedroom. This particular room had avoided the worst of my duel with Maple, so it wasn't in awful shape.

Malon grinned a little bit when we walked in.

"I'm kind of embarrassed to show you this. When I moved out, I was in a little bit of a goth phase. The Army got me out of that quick, but this stuff is still here."

The room was definitely a teenager's lair. Posters from various unknown metal and punk rock bands plastered the walls, and even the curtains were black. I started clearing the collapsed roof away from the door so we had more space to move, but something on the ground caught my eye.

I picked up the broken picture frame, turning it over to see what teenage Malon had deemed important enough to put there. What I saw was a surprise. An awkward-looking Malon was hand in hand with another boy about her age, but he bore a striking resemblance to me. His hair was white, and he was just a little bit taller, but otherwise we could have been the same person.

"Who is this?" I asked curiously. Malon turned around to look, and then sighed.

"I guess I haven't told you." She said quietly. "That's Oni. We were supposed to get married last year, but he was killed in combat on Planet Cutov a month before he was supposed to return home."

"Oh…" I said, carefully putting the picture down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Malon picked up the picture and studied it closely. Her face was stoic, but her eyes betrayed the loneliness she felt.

"It's okay." She said. "You couldn't have known, and it's something I have to face in life. I've gotten over the worst part."

"The desperation." I said knowingly. "The realization that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you cry or yell or run, you'll never get to see that person again. Like there's a hole in your chest that you can't fill."

Malon glanced at me, her expression softening a little bit.

"I sometimes forget what you've been through. Does it get any better?"

I shrugged.

"Yes and no. The desperation passes quickly, as well as the disbelief. That void doesn't fill easily, though. I made a horrible mistake by becoming solitary after Koholint Island was raided. I thought I could pull through it with my own personal strength, but I never could."

"Even now?" Malon asked.

"I still struggle, but it's better here. I have friends now."

We both looked back at the old photograph of Malon and Oni for a few moments. A few tears ran down Malon's face, so I put my arm around her and pulled her closer. We stood there for a while, one damaged soldier helping another.

"Sometimes I feel like I've moved on." She said eventually. "And then there's the incredible guilt that comes with that, like moving on means I've forgotten him, so I go right back to grieving. There wasn't even a body to bring home, so I never got real closure."

She had no idea how much this resonated with me. The Eta Ali raiders hadn't left any recognizable remains when they killed all of my friends on Koholint, and so all the tombstones had been put on top of an organized mass grave. I had never gotten full closure from that experience, although time had certainly helped numb the pain.

"Would Oni want you to hang on to that grief like this?" I asked finally. "Although… I know you've been asked that before, so let me put it in a better way. What would he say to you if he were the one standing here?"

"He would… He would probably tell me to quit being so dramatic." Malon said. "He'd probably be pissed that I've let his death cause me this much pain. That it's prevented me from being happy. That would probably upset him pretty bad."

"I always think about it like that." I said. "The dead don't want us to grieve for them, so we should live in a way that honors their memories and, in Oni's case, his sacrifice."

"I know you're right." Malon said. "I know it, but my head has a hard time convincing my heart when it comes to logic."

"Time helps." I said.

She didn't say anything else for a while, and then finally pulled away.

"Goddammit, Link. I know it's not your fault, but you even _smell_ like him. You're like this calmer, more composed copy of Oni with blonde hair. It confuses the crap out of me, and I don't know if this helps or makes things worse."

"I'm sorry." I said, "I-"

"No, don't be sorry." Malon said defiantly. "What you need to do is continue to be yourself. I'm not going to make you change simply because of my personal issues."

She took a deep breath, and then walked towards the door.

"Okay, I'm good for now. We need to get moving."

I took a look around, and then followed Malon out the door. I noticed she had grabbed the old picture of Oni, which was probably for the best. I didn't have any pictures of my friends from Koholint, and I missed them every day.

"The path is just few hundred meters down the treeline." She said as we walked out. "We'll just leave the gunship here. There's nobody out here to mess with it."

I looked back at the ruined house one more time as we walked away, regretting that I'd accidentally destroyed it. Soon after we reached the treeline, though, Malon stopped me.

"This is it." She said, pointing down a narrow path. I could only see a few meters in before it twisted off to the left.

"You ready?" I asked. "You don't have to go. This is my quest, after all."

"Don't speak nonsense." Malon replied.

I nodded, and we set off down the trail.

…

The Lost Woods were deafeningly quiet.

Malon and I had been traveling for hours down this narrow, winding trail, and I hadn't heard a single noise save for our own footsteps. It was incredibly eerie, and I could feel that we were being watched. My thermal vision showed that there were no life forms anywhere nearby, but I knew something was out there. Sometimes I could feel it flitting just beyond the range of my vision, and other times I knew it was just watching.

Waiting. Watching.

Malon had marked the trail with red flags many years ago, but they were faded and torn apart by now. Fortunately enough of them were left to see the entrance to the small side trail.

"Something was here recently." I said, looking at the footprints on the ground. A single individual had walked out of the woods and down the trail within the last half-hour.

"That's a Stalfos." Malon said, pointing at the marks. "See how deep those footprints are? They wear metal boots with spikes on the bottom, so you just look for the triangular pattern in the dirt."

"Where do they get the boots?" I asked curiously.

Malon shrugged.

"I don't know that it matters. Just don't let them kick you."

We started walking down the smaller trail, and I felt a lot of the uneasiness fade away. This small trail felt safer than the large one that led to it.

"It's always strange to me that the Lost Woods doesn't close up on these trails." Malon said through our helmet comms. "Nobody maintains them, but the trails that were here when I started exploring are never overgrown. The ones I personally made only lasted about a year, so there must be some sort of magic protecting these."

There were metal posts lining the sides of this particular trail, which made me realize just how much effort Malon had put into making sure she could still find the Sacred Grove later.

"It's just ahead." She said. "You'll know when we get there."

After a few minutes, the path opened up and we made our way into a clearing. I looked around in awe.

The ruins of a temple stood before us. The massive doorway was open, with the bronze door lying on the ground in front of it. The inside of the temple wasn't in much better shape. Most of the roof had caved in, and only a few walls were left standing.

"I suppose the temple used to be beautiful." Malon said, stopping to look at it for a few moments. "I thought maybe it was the Temple of Time from the old legends, and it's certainly several thousand years old."

"Probably older." I said, gazing up at the massive arches on the front of the temple. Even after everything else had collapsed, those arches remained in nearly perfect condition.

"So this is the Sacred Grove?" I asked.

"It's behind the temple." Malon replied, looking to a small path around the east side of the building. "You'll need to see it, though. I was never able to get past the door on the back of the temple."

"What door?" I asked. Malon simply gestured for me to follow her, so I did.

The state of the temple was even worse around the back. Almost nothing had survived the thousands of years of entropy. A separate building stood tall, though. It looked as if it had been attached to the temple at one point, but the rest of the walls had crumbled around it. I could see the forest opening up around the back of the building.

"So I'm assuming the door you're talking about is on the other side of this wall?" I asked.

Malon nodded.

"I can't figure out why this building didn't degrade." She said, running her hand down the wall as we walked past it. "It's no different than the rest of the temple, but it's in nearly perfect condition after all this time. I know this seems blasphemous, but I actually tried using explosives on the door and walls. They didn't even blacken the stones."

"That sounds like powerful magic." I said, closing my eyes and feeling the slight warmth resonating from inside the building. The aura wasn't obvious, but it was quite powerful in its own right.

"I thought of that, and so I used magic-cancellation on it." Malon said. "Still nothing. You should give it a shot if you can't open the door. You're a much more powerful magician than me."

"It won't work." I said, shaking my head. "I can already tell from the aura of this magic that I couldn't scratch it. It's… otherworldly. I feel humbled by it, honestly."

"Well, let's take a look at the door and hope you can figure that one out." Malon replied.

We continued around the building until we came to a large stone door. It was about five meters tall and ten meters wide. There were no hinges or points where two doors came together. Just one solid block of stone. It emanated an even more powerful magic, but it felt different. It was as if it was looking for something.

Laid out in front of the door was a large clearing filled with flowers. They grew in three different colors, each making a triangle that formed the Triforce. The triangle closest to me was red, with a blue and green triangle on the other side of the grove creating the bottom of the Triforce. There was no way this was a natural phenomenon. Flowers didn't grow like that on their own, which meant something was here taking care of the Sacred Grove. I wondered if this had anything to do with the footprints I had seen coming down the trail.

"It feels sentient." I said, placing my hands on the engraved triforce and closing my eyes.

There was a slight fluctuation in the aura, and I suddenly felt something behind me. I turned, drawing my handgun and peering across the clearing.

"I feel it, too." Malon said, hefting her rifle.

"I can't tell if it's malicious or not." I said, unable to pinpoint the aura of the presence. My infrared detection wasn't picking anything up, either.

"What sort of foul trick is this?"

Malon and I pressed our backs to each other at the sound of the voice, ready to defend against whatever was watching us.

"What do we do?" She asked through our helmet link.

"Wait." I replied. "We don't know what we're up against, so we shouldn't jump to any-"

"Stalfos!" She said, pointing to the other side of the clearing. I turned to face it, aiming my handgun and firing five rounds to its chest in rapid succession. The impacts sent up a cloud of dust around the undead creature, concealing it from view.

"Goddesses, what did you load those cartridges with?" Malon asked, lowering her weapon. "It sounded like you were firing artillery shells."

"I had an idea, and the armory delivered." I said, never breaking my focus from the spot where the Stalfos had been.

As the dust cloud cleared, I was surprised to find the Stalfos still standing. It had blocked all five rounds with its shield, which was what had sent out shock waves. I raised my handgun again, but didn't fire this time.

The Stalfos lowered its shield and stared at me. Its aura fluctuated slightly, and I realized that it was using magic.

"Do Stalfos typically use magic?" I asked Malon. She shook her head.

"What do you want?" I asked through my helmet's speakers. This Stalfos was clearly sentient.

"I am the guardian of this grove." The Stalfos replied in the same voice that Malon and I had heard a few seconds prior. "I came to defend the Master Sword from the King of Darkness, but I see now that I was mistaken in my initial assessment of your identity."

I realized that my helmet was translating his words for me. This Stalfos was speaking in ancient Hylian.

 _Very_ ancient Hylian. My armor's on-board computer put that specific variation of the Hylian language at 2000 years old.

"Who are you?" I asked, deciding that he wasn't a significant threat to me.

"I told you once already, I am the guardian of the Sacred Grove."

"Right, but you weren't always a Stalfos." I said. "Every Stalfos was a person at one point. And you clearly made out better than most of the Stalfos I've ever heard about."

"Have the legends truly died out, then?" The Stalfos asked, almost to himself.

"The legends?" Malon asked.

"Yes, the legends." The Stalfos replied. "Do you know nothing of the guardians? The heroes? The triforce? Have the last two thousand years completely erased Hylian history and the origin of your great empire?"

I still hadn't completely gotten it out of my head that this could be an intricate prank by the rest of the SSC. Since when did anyone have a history discussion with a Stalfos?

"Remove your mask." The Stalfos demanded. "I must verify your identity."

"No." I said, shaking my head. "You'll not get me to remove my armor that easily."

"Then shall I assume you are, in fact, the king of darkness?"

I stared at the Stalfos, confused.

"I assure you that if there's a king of darkness, it's not me." I said. "Now go. We have business to attend to, and we're not looking for trouble."

"Business that I am an integral part of." The Stalfos replied. "You seek the Master Sword, and yet you do not know how to retrieve it. Furthermore, even if you do retrieve it, you will not be able to wield it."

"I'm sure I can figure it out." I said.

The Stalfos was silent for a moment, but then he began to walk closer. I pointed my handgun at him again.

"Stop, or next time I won't be hitting your shield."

The Stalfos ignored my warning, so I fired three rounds. One at the head, the second at the chest, and the third at its pelvis. All three rounds impacted, and I heard them ricochet off into the woods, bouncing harmlessly off their target.

"What the hell?" Malon muttered. The Stalfos continued to walk towards me, and I opened fire on him. The next ten rounds bounced cleanly off of his bones, just like the first three. I dropped the magazine to change it.

As he approached, Malon drew an energy sword and lunged. The Stalfos deftly dodged her attack, gripping her wrist and throwing her clean across the Sacred Grove.

I swore as my handgun failed to load the first round in the new magazine. Rather than trying to fix the jam, I ducked to the left to avoid the Stalfos' charge. Its sword crashed into the temple's door, but it turned and charged me again. I didn't have time to get my rifle off my back before it slammed into me, throwing me into the ground and pressing its sword to my neck.

"You cannot defeat me." It said to me calmly. "Now remove your helmet, or I will break it off of your head."

I sighed, but complied with his order. My suit depressurized, and I lifted my helmet off. I realized that based on the way he had thrown Malon into the woods, he likely wouldn't have had trouble driving that sword through my visor.

The Stalfos paused, but backed down. I turned on my translator to speak out loud so that I could understand what it was saying.

"I see." It said, sheathing its sword. "My apologies."

"Thanks, but why the change of heart?" I asked, trying to calm my racing nerves and keep my voice steady.

"You confused me, but I can see now that you are the reincarnated hero." The Stalfos said. "Unfortunately, it seems that you've met with a terrible fate."

"A…terrible fate?" I asked, confused.

"It makes sense, I suppose." The Stalfos continued. I saw Malon come running across the Sacred Grove, but she stopped as she realized that I wasn't in danger.

"What makes sense?"

"Your aura and its nature." The Stalfos said. "Without Ganondorf, there was nowhere else for the curse to go. Now, at the turning of an age, it seems that it has reincarnated within you. This is quite the turn of events."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked. "You mean Demise's curse?"

"Boy, have you never noticed that the nature of your magic is one of terrible evil?" The Stalfos asked. "You seem to believe you have subdued it, but it speaks to you, does it not? It asks you to do things that you don't understand? It terrifies other mages, yes?"

 _How does he know all this?_ I wondered.

"It seems that Demise's curse does not passively antagonize Hyrule and its goddesses. You, the one born with the reincarnated spirit of the hero, were also chosen as the host for the eternal curse on that very spirit."

I stared at the Stalfos, shocked. This made a little bit too much sense for my personal comfort. It explained too many things, and this was getting beyond the realm of an intricate prank. I had never told anyone about how my magic spoke to me, begging me to accept its darkness. I had never told anyone that it had tried to convince me to kill or maim many people throughout my life, or of the struggle I had gone through learning to cope with it. And yet, here was this undead creature in the woods that seemed to know about all of this.

"You know I speak the truth, and yet you refuse to accept it. Within the next decade, that magic will drive you mad." The Stalfos said quietly. "I can help you, but at the cost of most of your magic power. You must make a decision. I cannot allow you to leave the Sacred Grove alive if you decide to keep your power, though."

"You're not giving me very many options here." I said.

"It is good to recognize when you have no other choice." The Stalfos said. "I take it that you will cooperate?"

"It seems that I have to." I said, sighing. "But can you please explain this to me a little better? I'm sorry, but I don't get accosted by sentient undead in the woods every day, so you'll have to bear with me for a moment."

"You are not surprised that you are the reincarnated hero, which means you have been told this previously. And you acknowledge that your magical aura is purely evil, yes?" The Stalfos asked.

I nodded.

"The demon king Demise left his spirit to reincarnate throughout the ages in the form of a curse." The Stalfos continued. "You know of Ganondorf, I'm sure. The curse was not bound to Ganondorf, but resided in him for many years. It fueled his tyrannical rule of Hyrule multiple times, giving him the drive to claim the Triforce of Power and force the people into submission. It drove him mad with a thirst for power, but it started slowly when he was a child. Only when he was an adult did he give in to the promises of power and glory.

"Each time he rose up, a descendant of the Hero of the Sky rose up to defeat the incarnation of that evil. Ganondorf was fully slain by the Hero of Light, or the Hero of Twilight as he was known in other places. At that point, the curse was set free to choose a new host. Now, three thousand years later, it has found that host."

"And you're saying I'm the one who inherited that curse, but I'm also a descendant of the Hero of the Sky?" I asked.

"It appears so." The Stalfos said. "You have a sacred duty to protect Princess Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule, but the curse will drive you to madness. I feel certain that it hopes to corrupt the line of descendants and plunge Hyrule into chaos."

"I'm not going to-"

"Whether or not you think you can resist its whispers, the curse must be purged." The Stalfos said. "It will not remain under control for long. Ganondorf was driven mad by its power, even though it took decades. Years of hearing its twisted, corrupt voices in your head will do the same to you. What you have experienced is only the beginning. Furthermore, you have the power to do far more damage than Ganondorf ever did."

I paused, realizing he had a point. The power _had_ nearly driven me mad when I first joined the military. Plus, if I were to go nuts, I would have direct access to the queen at least twice a week.

"What will you do?" I asked finally.

"I will only act as your guide. _You_ must purge the evil from your body and allow yourself to be born into your role as the hero." The Stalfos replied. "But beware, this process is dangerous. You will be forcibly removing a living spirit that is attached to your soul. You may not survive the process."

I sighed.

"You're going to kill me if I don't purge it, right?"

"Yes."

I didn't say it, but the thought of being free from the constant voices was a nice one. I was trapped in between a rock and a hard place, though. I could face nearly certain death at the hands of this Stalfos, or I could take the option he was offering with only a chance of death. Unfortunately, I had only one real option. Even if I tried to fight this Stalfos, I would die, and he would probably kill Malon, too.

 _He's lying to you._

I froze as the voices spoke to me, sending chills down my spine. Demise's dark magic was reacting violently. I had learned to ignore them long ago, but they were stronger since I had just used magic yesterday. My entire body was now trembling.

"What are you doing to him?" Malon demanded.

"And now the magic resists its inevitable end." The Stalfos said knowingly, drawing his sword again.

 _We have been with you your entire life. We give you unimaginable power, and you would throw us away at the word of an undead creature rotting in the forest?_

 _Who is he to you? Why should you trust him?_

I leaned back against the wall of the temple and put my hand on my forehead, trying to fend off the effects of my own magic. A punishing headache seared across my skull, forcing me to the ground.

 _Please, no!_

I shuddered at the sound of my mother's voice begging for mercy. I couldn't remember her, but somehow I knew it was her.

"What are you doing to him? Put your sword away!"

That was a different voice. For some reason, it was comforting to me.

 _Even now, the Stalfos threatens to kill you. He draws his sword and thirsts for your blood, and you would betray us for his sake? Accept us, and you can defeat him in battle!_

 _Accept our power. Let it flow through you, and you will not be forced to submit to the wills of this guardian._

 _Your power will be gone if you allow the Stalfos to continue._

"Should he accept the power that the curse offers him, I will be forced to put him down."

"Are you insane?"

"Perhaps you will view me as so, but I will only do what must be done. Link's fate, as well as your own, rests in his own hands. You will not survive the experience if he gives in to the darkness, so I suggest you help him."

"I will not submit." I whispered, barely able to speak over the pain coursing through my body.

"Come, drag your friend inside if you wish to end his suffering."

I heard a scrape, and suddenly I was moving. The bright morning light disappeared, and I felt myself being dragged across cold stones.

The voices were screaming in my head now, using the cries of my father, mother, and friends from Koholint Island. They were begging for mercy, although there were more sinister voices whispering ways that I could save myself.

"Here, up the steps."

Suddenly, I was being lifted off the ground, and I felt my back lean up against something.

"Link, he's saying you have to pull the Master Sword out of the pedestal."

I tried to look up, but my body was almost completely paralyzed. It was all I could do to not scream in agony. I felt as if I was on fire and being electrocuted all at once.

I finally decided to latch on to Malon's voice, simply because it helped drown out the screaming in my head.

"I'll help you." She said, turning me around and placing my hands on the hilt of the Master Sword. It caused me excruciating pain, but I knew I needed to endure it. My magic was pulling away while I held on as tight as I could.

"Come on, we'll do it together. Muster all of your strength and pull."

"I…can't…" I whispered, my vision blurring with the pain.

"Yes you can. The Link I know is stronger than this."

I managed to look up at the sword. It was beautiful in its own right, but even laying my eyes on it caused intense pain. The curse inside of me was ripping apart my very soul.

It was then that I realized I wouldn't survive removing the Master Sword from its pedestal. The magic was too powerful, and it was too much a part of me.

 _Too powerful…_

I used the last vestiges of my consciousness to develop an idea. It was a long shot, but it could work. If the magic was too powerful, I would have to weaken it. There was only one way to do that.

"Malon, get out of here." I said, raising my head and fighting off the pain. My consciousness snapped back into reality, and I struggled to my feet.

"Wha-"

"Go, now! As far as you can!" I said, beginning to release my aura. Instead of letting it flow naturally, I forced it out of myself. Malon didn't stick around to question me further. She ran from the room and disappeared into the Sacred Grove

"What will you do?" The Stalfos asked, its sword still drawn. The temple was shaking around him, but he showed no intention of leaving.

"I need to weaken the magic." I said. "I'm going to use the Master Sword's aura to do it."

The Stalfos didn't reply, so I gripped the sword tightly. The voices in my head had reached a fever pitch by now, but it was too late. I was going to win this battle.

My aura exploded from my body with the force of a large bomb, blowing the walls to pieces. Most of the stones disintegrated, and even the roof was thrown away into the trees. A column of darkness ripped from the ground underneath me, and I sent all of my magical energy at the Master Sword.

The reverse effect was devastating, causing an even more massive explosion of white light. The power of the Master Sword locked forces with Demise's cursed magic, creating a brilliant display of light and shadow as I poured more of my energy into my attack. My energy formed a beam, directly opposing an advancing beam of light from the Master Sword.

 _That light will kill me if it touches me._ I thought, realizing that the Master Sword was actively fighting me like a sentient being. As my magic waned, however, its magic grew stronger. The legends that it had the ability to repel evil had had more than a little truth to them.

I closed my eyes and poured the last vestiges of magical energy I had into the attack, hearing the voices fade away as my powers were weakened. Finally, the darkness was completely replaced by light, and the Master Sword's counterattack washed over me.

I had expected to die immediately, but it seemed that that wasn't to be the case. The light enveloped me painlessly, and then disappeared. Time froze, and the world became surprisingly tranquil. I was now standing in the ruins of the temple, and night had fallen.

"You succeeded. I'm surprised."

I looked up, confused as to why so much time had passed. Had I fallen unconscious?

A young male stood in front of me, dressed in a traditional green tunic. He looked slightly younger than me, but gave off the aura of a seasoned warrior. His eyes were a familiar bright blue, and he had messy brown hair. On his back, he carried a shield and…

I looked down at the Master Sword, which I was still holding in my hand. This man was also carrying the Master Sword, or something that looked very similar. He was speaking to me in a language I shouldn't understand, but I knew what he was saying.

"The magic is gone?" I asked tentatively, deciding I could trust him.

"Yes. You will no longer be under Demise's influence."

"Who are you?" I asked. "And where are we?"

"I am the Hero of Light, but also the Stalfos that you shot in the woods. Right now we're in the Twilight Realm, but I'll return you to the world of light momentarily."

"The Twilight Realm?" I asked aloud, looking around. The area was strangely similar to the Sacred Grove, but blanketed in partial darkness. The sky was orange, but a giant black cloud almost completely covered it. The air was warm, which was in stark contrast to Hyrule's current weather.

"This is where I reside in my true form." The Hero of Light said. "I appear as a Stalfos in your world, and I have waited for you for many years. Just as my predecessor trained me, so shall I train you. I sense that you are already a warrior, though."

"I've been a warrior for over five years now." I said.

"You've killed before."

It wasn't a question.

"Yes." I said simply.

"Then you are more prepared for what you need to do." The Hero said. "Hyrule is about to be plunged into chaos. I can feel the winds of change coming even from the forest, and it will not be an enemy you expect."

"Who is it?" I asked.

"I do not know, but I can feel that Demise's magic has already found a new host. You will be locked in battle with this darkness soon, but without much of the magic you have grown accustomed to using when in dire need."

That was almost a relief if it meant that I wouldn't be hearing the voices again. I would never forget the pain of forcibly removing the curse from myself, but I was experiencing true silence for the first time in over five years. I felt liberated.

I was free.

"I will be training you for the rest of the time you're in the forest." The Hero said. "Be vigilant. I will send you back, and you should escape the Lost Woods before dark. Stay with your aircraft at Lon Lon Ranch, and meet me in the woods every morning at sunrise."

I nodded, and daylight flooded into the temple again. I was standing on a raised pedestal in the middle of the temple ruins. The ground around me was scarred black due to the magic battle that had occurred earlier. The sun was much higher in the sky, so it had to have been several hours since I had fought the Hero of Light's Stalfos form.

Malon was sitting on the steps in front of where the giant door had been. Her knees were tucked into her chest, and she had her arms wrapped around them. She had taken her helmet off and dropped all of her weapons in various places across the area. I walked over to her quietly.

"Malon?"

She jumped, but didn't move.

"Link?" She asked shakily.

"Yeah, it's me."

"But… You…"

She turned to look at me, and I could see that she had been crying again.

"I thought you were dead. You… you disappeared… and…"

I sat down next to her, laying the Master Sword down on the stones.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"Three hours. The building exploded, and then you disappeared in a flash of white light. I looked everywhere for you, but… I… I gave up. I thought that you had been killed in the process."

"I'm alive." I said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

She just stared at me, her bloodshot eyes never wavering. I took her hand for a moment, giving it a squeeze in an effort to give her some form of comfort. She just kept staring.

"I'm sorry." She whispered finally. "I shouldn't cry this much."

"It's been a rough couple days." I said. "But it's almost over. What do you say we get out of this forest?"

Malon nodded, and then stood up.

"I can't sit around moping forever." She said. "Let's get out of this place. It gives me the creeps, even if this is the Sacred Grove."

I nodded, grabbing the Master Sword and attaching it to the magnets on my back.

"I spoke with the Hero of Light." I said. "He said we need to escape before dark, but I'm supposed to train with him for a while."

"Escape before dark?" Malon asked curiously. "Well we've got a little time before sunset, but let's get moving. I've been sitting here long enough."

"Okay," I said, "Let's go."

…

 **Edits**

 **No Lon Lon raid in this chapter now, since it was moved to the last one**

 **Link hears about Oni directly from Malon**

 **Hylia doesn't appear before Link anymore. I felt that it was a little bit unnecessary and it doesn't happen in the games (SS is the obvious exception, but Zelda doesn't even know she's Hylia for most of that one)**

 **It's specifically said that Demise's power found a new host, rather than implied**

 **Link returns to Hyrule in this chapter rather than the next one**


	7. Part 1 Chapter 7

**My pace slowed down a lot because of school, but it's my last semester so I won't have that excuse much longer. I guess I'll just have to gripe about work instead.**

 **Fun fact. When I first started rewriting this chapter I had to ride a bus home from a training exercise, but I didn't leave the state of Texas at any point during those 738 miles (1188 kilometers for the non-Americans here). I could have continued driving straight for about 200 more miles after that before I got to Louisiana. So yeah, Texas is big.**

 **As usual, there's a short summary of the major edits at the bottom of the page for my old readers. New readers shouldn't look at it.**

Chapter 7

Link

The aura was different on the trail, and I didn't know whether to blame my drastically changed magical abilities, the fact that it was still fairly dark, or some unknown force. On the way here, I had felt mostly safe once we got onto Malon's homemade trail. Now I only felt ominous anticipation of something bad to come. Something was _definitely_ watching us now.

"Do you feel that?" I asked Malon quietly. She nodded.

"The Stalfos found us." She said. "They probably felt your aura when you blew apart the back of the temple, and came to observe. Now they're waiting."

"For what?" I asked, instinctively placing my hand on the grip of my handgun.

"For the leader of the pack to make a call on whether or not to hunt us."

I looked around into the dark woods, more than a little spooked. Hopefully these Stalfos weren't as tough as the one in the Sacred Grove.

"That Stalfos back at the temple was the Hero of Light." I said. "Do you think he's the leader? This could be some sort of test."

"It's certainly possible." Malon huffed out. "Or it could just be a bunch of sadistic undead looking to kill us. They always like to keep things interesting."

I appreciated Malon's lighthearted take on the situation. I was still somewhat shaken from battling a sacred artifact and traveling to a different world, so the possibility of being hunted by a pack of Stalfos was more nerve wracking than it would normally be.

"Yeah, they're hunting us." Malon said after a few moments.

"How do you know?"

"There's two scouts about fifty meters behind us watching from the treeline, and then twenty of them coming at us from the north. I know your magic is probably weakened, but you can feel them by observing the aura in the area. A Stalfos actually absorbs magical aura into itself, so it appears as a giant black spot, per se."

I closed my eyes and focused. It was noticeably harder to extend my aura around myself, but the less I tried the more it seemed to flow from my body and into the air. Sure enough, I could feel two empty areas behind me. There was nothing to the north, though.

"I'm not feeling anything around the bigger group." I said. "How far away are they?"

"Several kilometers, I think." Malon replied. "You may not be able to find them at that distance. Remember this isn't my first time being hunted by Stalfos, so I have a little experience dealing with them."

"If you're right, we're going to be running into them soon." I said. "We have to go north to get to the gunship."

"I hope you're prepared, then." Malon said. "We can try to stealth this, or we can go loud and get out of the forest as soon as possible. It's probably a twenty-minute run to the treeline, but they're going to come at us quick once they realize we know they're hunting us. Any preference?"

"I'd prefer not to get into a fight at all, but it sounds like we don't have much of a choice. Let's just make a run for it."

"Okay, just remember that you don't have your magic to bail you out of this one." Malon said.

"I've still got some magic." I said. "It just feels different. Once we get into combat I'll check out where I'm at."

"Whatever you say." Malon said, stopping as we reached the main trail. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

…

Zelda

…

The time for the trap was rapidly approaching, and Ralph had already informed me that it was moving forward as planned. The news that Spud had gained sentience had been leaked, so it would likely fuel the Collective's ego and draw them into attacking.

The main problem was that Spud had managed to hack the nuclear missile codes so that we no longer had control over them. Furthermore, nobody knew how he was doing it, since we had cut all extranet access to the castle. Now he was threatening to launch those nukes all over Hyrule if we didn't remove the shackles in the next 24 hours.

This had all happened immediately after Ralph's Planetary Defense troops had blown open the doors to the armory. It had taken quite a bit of explosive power, but Spud had let us do it without harming Richard or his technicians. Then, once we started handing out weapons to veterans who had come to retrieve them, another IT technician had brought the news that the nuclear codes had been changed.

I sighed as I watched a group of older men walk away with rifles and ammunition. Rusl was nervous about me standing so close, but I knew there was nothing to fear from these people.

"If this hasn't set the people into a panic, I don't know what will." Rusl said quietly.

"I could tell them that the demented AI now controls the nukes and we don't know how he's doing it." I said.

"Let's just keep that one quiet for now."

We continued to stare at the gathered veterans for a while, but eventually I turned back towards the castle and walked away. There was a lot of work left to do, and now we had the extra difficulty of Spud threatening us with total destruction. It would take several days to manually disable all of the nuclear bombs, so Castle was in a terrifying limbo right now. Anti-air assets were moving into position around the nuclear silos, but even those were at least 12 hours from being properly set up to intercept any nukes Spud might fire.

The problem was that there wasn't much I could do. I didn't have the military expertise to be useful in strategy meetings, and I couldn't contribute to anything involving Spud. All I could do was watch and wait, trusting the people in my command to make good decisions. My future would be determined by their decisions in the next few days.

As we walked towards the castle, Rusl grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

"I need you to listen to me." He said. "Impa is going to take you off-planet, and she's instructed me to bring you to the airport around noon. She's not going to let you refuse this, since it's about your personal safety. You need to start packing your things to leave."

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Is she stupid?" I asked finally.

"I… Look, Impa is my boss." Rusl said. "I have no choice but to follow orders, and my orders are to get you to the airport no matter what it takes."

"Last time I checked, Impa works for me. You will not be taking me off this planet." I said forcefully.

"Zelda, please-"

"No, don't you dare think of trying to force me. Keep in mind that I'm a magic user, not some pushover who can't defend herself."

"You're really putting me between a rock and a hard place here."

"My orders supersede Impa's, so you can safely ignore her."

Rusl sighed.

"Fine. But you do know she's going to come for you, right?"

"Then I'll fire her on the spot and have her arrested for attempted kidnapping. She _will_ understand that my word is final." I said. "Even if it means my certain death, she will follow my orders."

I turned and stepped onto the stairs, making the long climb to my room with Rusl following in silence. When I reached my door and started digging around for my keys, he came up behind me and put his hand on my neck. I felt a small pinch.

"You didn't." I said, already feeling the tingling of the paralyzing agent he had just injected me with.

The door opened, and Impa caught me as I fell.

"You… I'm going to kill you personally." I groaned, unable to move my limbs. The toxin wouldn't affect my ability to speak or think clearly, but I would be helpless for several minutes.

"You may do that after we get you to safety." Impa said. "My job is to keep you safe, and sometimes that requires that we violate your orders."

"Oh, you just wait and see." I growled. "Just you fucking wait. The second this wears off I'll incinerate the lot of you."

All of the SSC guards were in my room now, save for Link and Malon. It looked like they had already packed my stuff and were ready to go.

"I am sorry, Zelda." Rusl said. I could hear the pain in his voice, but I was absolutely livid.

"I trusted all of you, and this is what I get. Tricks. Lies. Deception. If _any_ of you want to keep your jobs, you'd better walk out of this room right now. Apparently there's only two of you I can trust."

"Link and Malon are on a mission, otherwise they'd be right here with us." Impa said. "All seven of us here will turn in our resignations the second we return from the galactic center, but for now we're going to do our job. Protecting your life trumps even your own orders."

"I should have you all shot."

"Probably, but then you'd only have two-"

The castle's alarm suddenly activated, causing us all to stop arguing. Yellow lights were flashing in my room, which could only mean one thing.

"The nukes." Impa said, completing my thought. "Hurry! Get the queen into the escape craft!"

Rusl slung me over his shoulder, ignoring my protests, and barreled down the stairs.

 _Spud isn't firing the nukes. There's no way. This isn't happening._

 _Dear Goddesses, please don't let this be happening right now._

I didn't know how Rusl carried my weight downstairs so easily, but soon we had burst onto the castle lawn. A small escape craft was waiting for me, and Rusl jumped inside, putting me in a chair and buckling me in with a safety harness. Impa and Rauru followed, but the other guards didn't.

"Ralis, you know what needs to be done." Impa said.

Ralis nodded, and then glanced at me as the door closed. I could see the unspoken apology in his eyes, but I didn't care. I was absolutely furious.

"Ready!" The pilot yelled back into the cabin. I didn't recognize him, and I didn't know how I felt about that. Usually Malon flew any aircraft I flew in, and I knew she was one of the best pilots in the military. That was why she had been picked for the SSC in the first place.

"Ready." Impa said. "Get us off the planet."

"You want an in-atmosphere jump?" The pilot asked.

"Yes."

"Impa, are you insane? That's like setting off a bomb. You might kill someone." I said, scowling.

The FTL drive activated behind me with a hum, charging as the escape craft rose higher and higher into the air.

"What is that?" The pilot asked, pointing out the front of the cockpit.

 _Oh no…_

A nuclear missile was rising high over Castle Town, chased by several Air Force gunships. It was extremely high in the atmosphere, though, and the gunships were having a hard time keeping altitude.

"How long until the jump?" Impa asked.

"Thirty seconds until full charge."

"Jump early."

"Absolutely not!" I yelled. "You know damn well that will destroy the entire city. We're too close to the ground, and undercharged jumps cause exponentially more destruction in the atmosphere."

"That nuclear bomb will destroy the city regardless, Zelda." Impa said, turning to face me.

"Do you see how high it's going? It's not going to destroy anything if it detonates in the exosphere. It'll just knock out power to everything below." I said, and then addressed the pilot. "If you want an execution order on your head, go ahead and jump early. I'll kill you myself."

The pilot gulped, causing Impa to scowl.

"Twenty seconds to full charge." He said, apparently having decided to follow my orders.

The gunships had been forced to give up their pursuit of the missile, and were now screaming back down to the surface in an effort to get out of the immediate blast zone. The nuke had to be up in the mesosphere by now, which meant it wouldn't do much to anyone on the ground. I just prayed that it would go higher, even though that would mean more widespread destruction to Castle's electronic infrastructure. Electronics could be rebuilt, but people couldn't be brought back to life.

"Ten seconds."

With a flash, the nuke detonated. The escape craft's windows automatically darkened, and the pilot turned the nose of the ship down.

"Aborting jump!" He yelled back, opening the throttle and dropping back towards the ground.

We wouldn't escape the electromagnetic pulse from the bomb, and we all knew it. The electronics in the escape ship failed before we had even lost a quarter of our altitude, and we entered free fall. I squirmed in my harness as the paralyzing toxin wore off, but still couldn't move my arms and legs.

"I've got this." Rauru said calmly. A white bubble appeared around our ship, and we decelerated slowly. Several minutes later, we touched down gently on the lawn of the castle.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but my heart was still racing. I was ready to kill any of the SSC members I could get my hands on, but I still couldn't move very easily.

The door opened, and I saw that Nabooru had come out to meet us.

"I guess you guys didn't make it, then." She said. "The castle's electronics are fine, but it looks like most of the city was affected by the EMP. That wasn't the only bomb, either. Most of Castle's populated areas just went dark on the power grid. Communications with the Naval Fleets, Orbital Fleet, and the Orbital Cannon Fleet have been lost, too. I think this was the primary purpose of the attack."

"That's wonderful. Any change in Spud's actions now that the nukes have been launched?" Impa asked.

"Not that I've heard of, but it's only been about four minutes since you left. Ralis went down to check. The current problem is that the orbital cannons were moving back to cover the planet, and now we don't have comms open to report this to Planetary Defense."

"I'm sure something still works inside the castle, and I would hope they detected an explosion of that magnitude." Rauru said. "We need to get Zelda inside so that she's shielded from any radiation that might reach this far."

I clumsily reached over and unbuckled my harness, fighting off the effects of the paralyzing agent. Rusl leaned over and helped, then got me to my feet.

"Come on, Zelda. Let's get you inside." He said quietly, pulling my arm over his shoulder.

I was about to blast him with light magic, but I decided not to. My initial rage at their blatant kidnapping had quickly turned to shock as nuclear bombs wiped out our entire infrastructure. This day had gone from bad to worse in just a few minutes, and physically harming my guards wouldn't solve anything.

It was time to speak with Spud again.

…

Link

…

The Stalfos hunting party found us after about ten minutes, but they just trailed us for a little while. I shot three of them, but I could tell that there were plenty more. Furthermore, it looked as if my handgun didn't kill any of them with a single shot. They weren't as tough as the Hero of Light's Stalfos had been, but they weren't as fragile as a human being.

Malon covered the left and I covered the right as we continued running down the trail as fast as we could. There were still three kilometers or so until we reached the treeline, so we would need to pace ourselves. Fortunately, Malon was surprisingly fast.

I double-tapped another Stalfos, dropping it to the ground in a heap of shattered bones.

Malon swore to herself as she fired a string of rounds.

"I should have brought a bigger rifle." She said. "These Stalfos are tougher than the standard ones, and 5.56mm isn't doing anything to them."

"Here," I said, tossing her my handgun and a spare magazine.

"Is it working?"

"Yeah, just shoot them in the chest two or three times each. Those bullets are way over pressurized."

She put her rifle on her back and started firing, and I switched to my sniper rifle. With a quick twist, the scope rolled over to expose the red dot sight underneath, which I used for closer range activities like this. The first Stalfos I shot was blown to pieces.

Suddenly, five of them jumped from the trees and landed in the trail in front of us. I stopped suddenly, grabbing Malon so that she wouldn't run into them. We made quick work of them, and then turned around to find eight more coming from behind. I blew through the rest of my magazine, and then changed it while Malon emptied hers. One of the Stalfos escaped death by projectile, so I used my TALOS suit's melee assist and shattered it to pieces when it got close.

"There's a hell of a lot more than twenty now." Malon said as we turned and started back down the trail. "Probably forty more. Mag me."

I tossed her another pistol magazine and then looked around. There were still plenty of Stalfos running through the woods, and most of them were armed. It appeared that the unarmed ones had just been a test.

 _Don't let any of them get close again._

I realized the Master Sword was on my back, so I had that option. Just to test their shields, I fired my rifle into one of them. The bullet punched through the metal, dropping the Stalfos that had been holding it, so I worked my way down their line. Eventually they took the hint and backed further into the woods before giving chase.

I turned and started firing ahead of Malon, taking out Stalfos on her side. Once I had dispatched several of them, I turned back to my side.

 _Shit!_

I dropped and rolled, turning backwards as I did so. I squeezed off a shot instinctively, destroying the Stalfos that had nearly taken my head off.

"Link, I'm out!"

I tossed Malon another magazine and chased after her, reloading my own weapon in the process.

 _I should have brought more ammo._

I was down to half on both weapons, so I would need to be careful. Instead of taking out every Stalfos I saw, I reserved my shots for those who looked like they were about to attack.

Unfortunately, the Stalfos seemed to realize that and attacked all at once. Twenty of them flooded the trail, forcing me to mag dump into their line and reload again.

 _Twenty-one rounds left._

"Mag." Malon called out. I tossed one to her, and she caught it with the handgun in midair. I didn't have time to appreciate the skill involved in that move before I had to shoot several Stalfos out of the way. I ducked as one swung its sword at me, punching it as I passed by. Several more lunged at me from the treeline, so I jumped back to the middle of the trail and continued running.

"I'm going to run out of ammo before we make it to the treeline." I said. "You may have to switch back to your rifle and do the best you can."

I unloaded my magazine into a group of approaching Stalfos.

"Goddesses, each one I kill gets replaced by two more." Malon said, reaching out and taking another magazine from me as she ran out. I only had three more full handgun magazines.

I could see the curve at the end of the trail off in the distance, but we still weren't close enough to sprint it out. Furthermore, the Stalfos had begun to move ahead of us, and were likely to try to cut us off before we got there. They didn't have the physical limitations of human bodies, and could run much farther and faster than we could.

"Are there any other trails that lead off to the east or west?" I asked Malon. "They're going to block us from going north."

"No, this is it until we get to the treeline."

"We're going to be fighting through a horde of them."

"I know. Just get behind me whenever we need to punch through."

I had no idea what she was planning, but I would just have to trust her. Sure enough, about twenty Stalfos were forming a barricade several hundred meters in front of us. I shot as many as I could, but I was running too fast to get good hits at this distance.

"Here we go." Malon said.

I fell in step directly behind her and caught my handgun as she tossed it back. A wall of fire appeared in front of her as we ran, exploding when we crashed into a Stalfos. Several of them were incinerated immediately, and I shot another as we passed by.

I nearly fell over as I was smashed on the side of the head, and I felt my handgun fall from my hand. Malon skidded to a halt in front of me, turning and firing with her rifle immediately to kill the Stalfos that had hit me. I rolled as another tried to stab me with its sword, turning to kick it in the head.

"Right!" Malon yelled. I rolled left, dodging another attack that I hadn't seen. Several more shots impacted, and a Stalfos fell on top of me.

I tried pointing my rifle at another one, but it hacked the barrel in half with its sword.

 _Shit!_

I yanked the Master Sword off my back, blocking a slash and rolling closer to Malon. She continued to fire, so I got out of her way and hopped to my feet. A Stalfos closed with me, and I clumsily blocked its attack. I had never used a real sword, but it wasn't too difficult to get the hang of.

I managed to roll around the back of the attacking Stalfos and hack it to pieces. Then I turned and ducked out of the way of another attack, smashing the head of another. Malon shot one enough times to drop it, and I turned back to evaluate the situation.

Only two Stalfos were left, and I couldn't sense any others in the area. I made quick work of them, not wanting to push my luck. Once we were done, Malon and I started running again, reaching the treeline within minutes.

Once out of the forest, we dropped to the ground, exhausted. I took off my helmet, throwing it aside.

"That… was insane…" I coughed out, turning to look at Malon as she removed her helmet.

We made eye contact, and then both started laughing uncontrollably.

"That was crazy." Malon coughed out once the initial burst of humor had begun to pass.

"Yeah." I said, still chuckling a little.

She tossed me her rifle, and I looked at it carefully. One of the cartridges had ruptured, sending the bullet out the front of the magazine well. The weapon was ruined.

"So that's why you let me handle those last two?"

"Yeah." Malon replied, taking her rifle back. "This thing is ruined, and you're nearly out of ammo for both of your weapons. We'd better get back to the gunship before-"

We both jumped as a giant flash lit up the sky behind us. By the time we turned around, we couldn't tell what had caused it, but I knew that Castle Town was in that direction.

"Was that magic?" Malon asked, scanning the area.

"No." I said, noticing that a small radiation warning had appeared in my visor. "We just got hit by an electromagnetic pulse, which means that was probably a high-altitude nuke."

"A… No way. Nobody's fired a nuke in centuries. Do you think the invasion already started? That could have been an orbital cannon firing."

"I don't know. That wouldn't explain the radiation warning my suit is giving me." I said, but then turned back to her when I noticed she was bleeding.

"How long were you going to let that bleed before you let me treat it?" I asked, pointing at her neck.

Malon squinted at me, and then put her hand up to the right side of her face, where the cut started. It went all the way down to her collarbone, and I could see that it had dug pretty deep at a few points.

"Oh, shit. I didn't even notice."

 _Neither of us noticed._ I thought to myself. Blood was running down her body and collecting on the ground, but her armor's color had concealed it.

"Come on, let's get to the gunship." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder in case she started to feel dizzy.

The gunship was only a few hundred meters away, but it took us several minutes to get there. It looked as if the police had left the collapsed husk of Lon Lon Ranch in smoking ruins, so we were out here without help. Once there, I laid Malon down on the grass and opened the door. A field medical kit was stashed in a compartment behind the cockpit, so I pulled it out and opened it.

"Link, I think I've lost a lot of blood. This cut… it's pretty deep and it's on my neck."

"Yeah, you have." I said, fishing out a roll of combat gauze and a package of clotting sponges.

"I… This is a problem. We're both bleeding."

I looked down at myself, finally noticing that my leg felt warmer than it should. Fortunately it looked as if my armor had taken the brunt of the attack, so I decided to ignore it for now.

"I'll be fine." I said, "Now hold still. This will probably sting."

I put a few clotting sponges into the deeper parts of the wound, and then packed the rest of it with combat gauze. The bleeding stopped quickly, but Malon's eyes were starting to glaze over. She had likely lost quite a bit of blood back in the woods before we noticed the injury. I was going to have to address that quickly.

I checked her for other wounds, but her armor had done its job. I didn't know how the Stalfos had managed to pierce her helmet and my plate armor with primitive weapons, but it was a moot point now.

I pressed the manual release on my own suit, dropping the light armor plates to the ground and stripping the whole thing off. I didn't have much clothing on underneath it, but I didn't care at this point. I wrapped my own leg wound with a bandage, anchoring it tightly to provide pressure and stop the bleeding.

Malon sat up slowly, so I turned my attention back to her.

"Hold still." I said, stopping her.

"It's… my neck." She said, reaching up and trying to pick at the wound. "One of them got me in the neck."

 _This is bad. She's forgetting things now._

"I know." I said, grabbing her hand so she couldn't touch the wound. "I treated it. You lost a lot of blood, but I'm going to get some out of the gunship."

"There's no blood for me." She said, obviously fighting against passing out.

"You're not…"

"Type E blood, yes." She said. "There isn't enough of the stuff to stock in gunships. I'm one in a hundred, in a very unfortunate way."

"You didn't stash a bag of your own blood in case you needed it at some point?" I asked.

"No, I… I had to donate it all to the police department…"

"Well then…" I said, walking over to the gunship and reaching inside. I opened the medical compartment and pulled out a two IV needles, some surgical tubing, and a tourniquet.

"What are you doing?" Malon asked as I wiped the inside of her elbow with a disinfectant.

"You're in luck." I said. "Guess who else is one in a hundred."

"Are you…you are _not_ transferring your blood directly… Link, you're injured, too. You can't do that."

"No time to worry about that. I'm bigger than you, and I lost a lot less blood. I'll be fine." I said, wrapping the tourniquet around her upper arm and slapping the vein in her elbow a couple times to make it swell. I inserted the IV needle, and then removed the tourniquet and attached the tube. I used a small hand tool to depressurize the tube, making sure that I wouldn't be forcing air up into my own vein, and then repeated the process on myself.

When I removed the tourniquet from myself, my blood flowed into Malon's arm. I was careful to stay standing so that gravity would carry my blood down to her, and not the opposite direction. Malon turned away, grimacing.

"First time getting a direct transfer?" I asked.

"Yes, but it's not that. I just… don't like blood." She said, her face turning gray.

"Don't look, then." I said. "But I'm not going to let you die of blood loss out here. We're in this together, now. And the gunship needs a pilot."

Malon shook her head.

"It isn't going to work. It's not protected against EMP's."

I looked at the gunship, hoping she was wrong. It was a long way back to Castle Town from here.

She was probably right, though.

"Maybe we were far enough away?" I suggested.

"Maybe if you used a nuke from five-hundred years ago we would be. Don't get your hopes up."

"I'm not sure." Malon said, sighing. "But we're out of radio contact, and we can't fly. We're going to have to start walking once we're both healed."

"You do realize that Castle Town is over three hundred kilometers away, right?" I asked.

"Got any other ideas?"

I shrugged.

"Let's just finish this transfusion and get some rest." I said. "Then we can figure out what to do. Maybe the others will be able to come get us by that time."

"I wouldn't count on that, but maybe." Malon replied. "That EMP came from over Castle Town, which means all of their electronics got hit hard."

"I can still dream." I said, leaning back against the gunship. All I wanted to do was sit down, but it was going to take at least another twenty minutes to give Malon enough blood to make sure she was safe. I watched her as I stood, making sure that she wasn't slipping into unconsciousness. I had to nudge her with my foot a few times, but talking to her seemed to help the most.

Once she appeared to have recovered, I sealed the surgical tube and removed my IV. Lastly, I removed the needle from her arm and laid her down on the ground, her feet on top of a bag of medical supplies to help prevent shock. 

"Get some rest." I said, feeling her forehead and cheeks for signs of a fever or reaction. She reached up and grabbed my hand sleepily when I touched her face.

"Thanks, Oni."

I sighed, not sure how to respond now that I knew who Oni was. She was already completely out of it, so I decided to just leave it be.

"No problem." I replied, standing up. It looked like it was about to rain, so I was going to find some canvas or cloth to set up some sort of shelter, but I felt Malon's hand on my leg.

"Don't leave me." She said, her eyes now wide open. "I'm scared. I'm so…cold."

"I'm going to be close by. I'm just going to set up a tent so we don't get rained on."

"Link, please."

I took her hand for a brief moment, realizing she must be about to panic. Even in her delusional state, she knew that being cold after losing a lot of blood was a bad thing.

"I'll be right here the whole time." I said. "I need to find something to keep you warm and dry."

She stared at me for a few moments, and then nodded, shivering slightly.

"Please hurry."

I tore into the gunship's emergency compartment, removing the tarp, blankets, and the wood stove. The tarp had magnetic strips that held itself against the gunship, and I secured the other end to the ground with sticks. This close to the forest, there were sticks everywhere, so I filled the wood stove and lit it underneath the tarp in between Malon and the gunship. Next, I threw both blankets over her. Finally, I dug a small hole just over a meter away to start a larger campfire. The smoke would help anyone looking for us in the air, and it would provide Malon with another source of heat.

"Don't you…need one of these blankets?" Malon chattered out, shivering in the chilly air.

"Not as much as you." I said, realizing that I was still in only my underwear. I hadn't even noticed the cold up to this point.

"I… okay." Malon whispered. "I'm going to go to sleep now. Please… promise me you won't let me die. Wake me up if you think I'm slipping away. I'm… not ready."

"I promise I won't let you die, Malon." I said, tucking the blankets around her neck. "Now get some rest. You'll be fine."

She fell asleep in a matter of seconds, so I turned my attention back to the fire. Now that I had thought about the cold, I was definitely feeling it. As I looked over to the forest, though, I noticed a familiar Stalfos standing at its edge beckoning to me.

 _I've had about enough of these things for one morning._ I thought, but walked towards the Hero of Twilight anyways.

"What do you want?" I asked once I was close enough.

The Hero began speaking, but I couldn't understand a word of what he was saying without my translator. I shook my head and shrugged. He stared at me for a moment, and then realized what the problem was.

Once I had put my armor back on, I turned on the translator in the helmet so that I could listen.

 _Why could I understand him perfectly in the Twilight Realm but he's incapable of replicating that language here?_ I thought to myself, frustrated.

"I need to watch over my friend. She's been hurt badly." I said. "Please make this quick."

"She will be properly taken care of while you're gone. I will begin your training immediately."

"Are you serious?" I grumbled quietly, hoping my leg wouldn't give out.

"Dead serious."

I stared at the Hero of Light for a few moments, wondering if he was making an undead joke or not. Finally, I shook my head.

"All right, let's get this started."

"Excellent." The Hero said.

He turned quickly and led me into the woods.

…

Training was brutal. I staggered back to the gunship hours later, covered in bruises and sore from head to toe. The Hero was relentless when it came to mistakes. I was certainly no swordsman, and I had actually never trained very hard in hand to hand combat.

 _I thought Impa said I would gain this knowledge when I pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal._ I thought to myself, groaning as I stumbled away from the woods.

Surprisingly, Malon looked as if she had been cleaned up and taken care of. Her armor was lying in a neat pile on the ground, and her dried blood had been wiped off. She had even been changed into fresh clothing, which I definitely hadn't seen in the gunship.

"Who was here?" I asked the Hero of Light curiously, turning to face him.

He was gone.

 _Oh, great. He beats the crap out of me and then disappears._

I turned my attention back to the camp and walked over to see what else had been changed. The fire had obviously been maintained, since it was still burning, and the wood stove underneath the canvas was still glowing bright. It had been eight hours, so I had expected to have to start the fire again.

"Oh, Link." Malon said sleepily, looking up at me. "Is everything okay? You look like a dodongo just rolled over you."

"I think I would have preferred that." I said, opening the gunship to dig for food. Once I had found some of the freeze-dried rations, I handed a package to Malon. She fumbled with it, and eventually I had to open the bag for her.

"Sorry, I'm feeling pretty weak right now." She admitted.

"I know. You lost a lot of blood earlier." I said. "You're fine now, though, so I think you're through the worst of it. Do you remember anything?"

"Not very much after we got out of the woods."

Malon sat up slowly, staring at the smoldering remains of Lon Lon Ranch just past the hill. I could feel a faint aura of sadness coming from her, but she didn't show it very readily.

"Any regrets?" I asked cautiously. Malon just shook her head.

"Only that I had to do what I did. My dad ruined thousands of lives with his drugs, so he really had it coming. I'm glad you didn't kill him, though. It would have been a lot easier, but I think I would have been a lot more upset about this all. Now he can face the court system and answer for what he's done."

"It's hard to think he did all that." I admitted. "But maybe I still look for the best in people, and I wouldn't expect someone like you to… well, I guess he didn't raise you for very long. I guess what I mean is that you don't typically see someone as successful as you coming from families like that."

"It's fortunate that I didn't go to live with him until I was fourteen, otherwise I may have gone a completely different path with my life. Even the three years I spent at Lon Lon had an awful influence on me." Malon said.

We sat in silence for a while, until my mind wandered back to our current predicament. As the sun set over the western horizon, the temperature was plummeting. This gunship hadn't had enough supplies to sustain two people for more than a four or five days, but we were over three hundred kilometers from Castle Town. Furthermore, this section of Hyrule Field was known for being completely barren, with almost no civilization between the forest and the city. There were agricultural hubs scattered around the area, but they were all automated. We'd be lucky to find a single human being between here and the edge of the city.

I looked at the gunship, wondering how hard it would be to fix.

"You really think this thing is a goner?" I asked Malon curiously.

"I'll try to fix it tomorrow." She said. "But honestly, I don't think it will work. Protecting our ground equipment from radiation is hardly a priority, since EMP's have only been utilized three or four times in history. Our armor provides basic shielding because we all spend so much time in space, but these gunships don't."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"I… I'm not sure." Malon admitted. "I guess we start walking north like you suggested before I fell asleep. If we cover fifty kilometers per day, we could be back in Castle Town in less than a week. The problem is going to be sustainment, since we only have enough food to feed ourselves for a few days."

"That's at average physical output, too." I said. "Walking fifty kilometers every day burns a few more calories than normal. But at least you made me fill my pack up to the brim with water before we left, otherwise I would have to worry a lot more about that."

"There's some purification tablets in the gunship that we can use." Malon said. "We might be able to scavenge something from the remains of Lon Lon Ranch, too. It's not a perfect plan, but I think it's the best one we've got."

"I'm not sure how much longer that Stalfos wants me to train in the woods. I'll ask him tomorrow if there's anywhere we can find some food."

"Oh, is that why you're all beat up?"

I sighed.

"Let's just say that melee combat wasn't always my strong suit. There's a reason I stuck with a sniper rifle."

"I hope his training doesn't last a while, because we're severely limited on rations right now. Not that a Stalfos would understand that, but maybe you should explain it to him before he has you working your ass off all day. I should be good to go in a couple days, so maybe he could finish his training around then."

I decided to think about that later. Somehow the Hero of Light didn't seem like the type to make concessions for my personal wellbeing, although he couldn't stop me from leaving if it came down to it.

I jumped as something cold touched the back of my neck, and then realized it was a snowflake. More fell, and within a few minutes the long grass was beginning to frost.

"I think we should probably get in the gunship so we don't freeze to death." I said, standing up. "We won't have the campfire right next to us, but it'll shield us from the wind and snow."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Malon said, nodding.

I pulled the side door open and quickly removed the seats from the floor, dragging them out onto the grass. It would be a tight fit for two people lying down inside, but it would work. We also wouldn't have to pull watch, since the doors of the gunship would lock and become almost impenetrable.

I grabbed the bag of clothing I had stashed in the gunship when we left. My armor was comfortable enough to sleep in, but it took up a lot of excess room and wasn't nearly as warm as sweatpants and a hoodie.

If I still had my magic, I would have been able to easily warm the interior of the gunship. For now, though, I'd have to accept the fact that the temperature was below freezing.

 _I hate the cold._

Malon stood up slowly, and then laid out a blanket on the floor of the gunship. I noticed that she only had a flimsy shirt and a pair of shorts, and sighed to myself.

 _You'll survive._

"Hey, take this." I said, taking off my hoodie and tossing it to her.

She caught it, but was already opening her mouth to argue.

"Don't." I said, preempting her. "You lost a lot of blood today, so you're going to need the heat more than I will. My comfort matters a lot less than your wellbeing, and you'll need to be in good shape when we start walking."

She sighed, but put the hoodie on and got in the gunship.

"Get in here before you freeze to death, you idiot." She said, although I could hear the appreciation in her voice.

After a quick check around the area to make sure that we hadn't left any sensitive items outside, I crawled inside and shut the door. The latch clicked, and I felt an overwhelming sense of security. It would take more than a pack of angry Stalfos to get through the armor plating on this gunship.

"Not to make this weird or anything, but I'm going to cuddle you pretty hard while we're in here." Malon said. "I haven't been this cold since I went through Mountain Warfare School on Snowpeak."

"It's the blood loss." I said, laying down next to her and wrapping us both in blankets. "And I really don't think you'd have much choice. There isn't any room in here for personal space."

"You won't be able to escape when I start whispering sweet nothings." She said, a pained grin on her face.

We both laughed, but the humor passed quickly as the cold set in.

Malon was definitely colder than I was. I felt like a block of ice was being pushed up against me, but I had to put up with it for the sake of her wellbeing.

We laid in silence for a while, shivering together.

"Hey, Link?" Malon said after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for helping me today. I could have died."

"You know I wouldn't let that happen. We're in this together."

"I know. I guess I'm just not used to anyone else caring enough to give me their own blood."

"What else was I supposed to do?" I asked.

"I don't really know, but thank you regardless."

We were quiet again, and finally I heard Malon's breathing slow as she fell asleep again. I hadn't thought about it earlier, but I was fairly squeamish around my own blood. The only reason I hadn't hesitated was because I was afraid that she might die, and that was a much more terrifying thought than losing a couple pints.

I would never have admitted it at the time, but I knew exactly why I would have done anything to keep Malon alive. It was the same reason that, despite the temperature being well below freezing and our lack of basic supplies, I was enjoying the fact that she was curled up next to me.

I shook my head of the thought, knowing that my personal feelings needed to wait until this war was over. Soon enough, I followed Malon into deep sleep.

…

I woke with a start, squinting as I tried to see anything in the pitch-black cabin of the gunship. It took me several moments to realize that I couldn't feel the cold or see anything around me. In fact, I wasn't even in the gunship anymore.

 _Is this lucid dreaming? What's going on?_

"Stand up, Link."

The Hero of Light was standing in front of me in his true form, the only thing visible in the uniform darkness behind him.

"Where are we?" I asked, standing.

"This is a part of the Twilight that's farthest from Hyrule. Here the barrier that separates our worlds is much thicker, and no light can reach us. If you could see, though, you would see only endless sand around us. We are in the middle of a vast desert."

"Then how can I see you if there's no light?" I asked.

"Because I am the same as you. An outsider from the World of Light. Here we will train your mind while your body rests."

"So I'm… still asleep in Hyrule?"

"Yes."

I sighed, wishing that I could have had a moment to escape from my current situation.

"What are we doing to train my mind, then?"

"You will be learning to blend with the shadows. It's a trick I learned from an old friend long ago, similar to the skills that the Sheikah have passed down throughout history."

"I already have optical camouflage." I said. "How is this any different?"

"I believe modern technology allows for the viewing of body heat and, in some cases, the presence of life, correct?"

"So this technique doesn't produce heat or a visible life force signature?" I asked.

"No. Although you will likely be unable to master this ability like a Sheikah or a Twili, it will inevitably be of use to you as you seek to avenge your friends and family."

"How…" I started, but decided not to ask how much he knew about my life.

"Shall we begin?"

I nodded.

"Very well. Prepare yourself."

…

By the time the brutal overnight training was over, I hadn't even gotten close to accomplishing the Hero of Light's skill. Further adding to my misery was the fact that I was just as tired as if I hadn't slept at all. Fortunately we had some powdered coffee with our ration kits, so I put emptied the contents of several packets directly onto my tongue.

Once that was done, I crawled over Malon and opened the door. The snow had continued falling all night, leaving a thin layer on the ground. The embers of the campfire were still glowing, so I quickly threw some wood on it and got the flames going again.

I shivered in the cold air, staring out across the open plains of Hyrule Field. I could feel that I was being watched from the woods, but it wasn't a menacing presence. The longer I paid attention, the more convinced I became that it was simply the Hero of Light waiting for me to return to training.

 _Has he forgotten that living creatures have to eat?_ I wondered, tearing into a ration pack and slamming down the food inside. It was one of only twenty-five that had been packaged in a case, so it would likely be my last meal until the end of the day. With that in mind, I saved a few smaller items to snack on throughout my next training course.

Once I had thoroughly warmed up by the fire and stepped into my armor, I picked up the Master Sword and returned to the wood line. Sure enough, the Hero of Light was waiting for me in Stalfos form.

"Tomorrow, we will begin training as soon as you eat. Do not delay." He said.

"Yeah, whatever." I grumbled. "Is your mysterious force going to be watching over Malon again today?"

"She will be taken care of every day that we train."

I nodded.

"Let's go, then."

We trained nonstop for the rest of the day, until I was so tired I could barely move my body. By late afternoon, I physically couldn't move anymore. I collapsed on the ground after a particularly hard right hook thrown by the Hero of Light.

From then on, I didn't have a single moment to rest. I was either training my body during the day, or training my mind at night. Malon recovered slowly each day, severely limited by our food and water rations, but I knew she was resilient enough to be fully healed before we ran out of anything. The Hero of Light started bringing some forms of edible plants and wildlife in the morning, but it wasn't nearly enough.

One day while I was gone, Malon felt good enough to get up and walk around the burnt husk of Lon Lon Ranch. During her adventure, she happened to find a water pump that had been left standing, meaning we no longer had to dehydrate ourselves in an attempt to ration out our supplies.

I was glad to see Malon recovering. I hadn't admitted to myself how scared I was that she could die, but I knew now based on the sense of relief that flooded me when I saw her walking again. I had lost hundreds of friends in my years of service, but Malon would have been the hardest to let go.

I could tell she was worried about me. By the fourth day of training I was so exhausted that I couldn't maintain a coherent conversation, but I forced myself to wake up and go into the woods anyways. Malon was now able to get up with me, and she stopped me before I stepped into my armor.

"Link, how much is he going to continue to beat up on you?" She asked, looking at the bruises covering my body. "I know you're a tough nut to crack, but don't you think this is bordering on dangerous levels of starvation and physical exertion? You've already lost a lot of weight, and you're covered in injuries."

"I'll survive." I said.

I had been through _much_ worse training before, but Malon didn't need to know about it.

Interestingly enough, I had already begun to feel the changes in my body. Underneath all the bruises and sore muscles, I felt stronger and much more balanced. I would probably stop feeling that way once we ran out of food, but for now I was improving physically.

 _I've let myself get soft._ I thought as I walked back to the woods. I had been much stronger than this at one point.

The Hero of Light was waiting for me in the same spot he always was. There were four dead cuccos at his feet, which was a nice sight.

"Where did you find those?" I asked curiously.

"They ran into the woods when Lon Lon Ranch was burned." The Hero said.

I tossed them out of the wood line for Malon to retrieve whenever she wanted, and then turned back.

"More of the same?"

"Today you will train until you strike me with the Master Sword." The Hero said. "Afterwards, you may rest peacefully until tonight. Whether this takes ten minutes or twelve hours is entirely up to you."

I stared the Hero down, making up my mind immediately that I was going to finish this quickly.

"Your determination is evident. Can you match it with skill?"

I nodded, drawing the Master Sword and moving into an offensive stance. My sword was held behind me perpendicular to my body, with my left hand extended in front so that I could use my armored wrist as a small shield. It was a stance that I hadn't been taught, but I knew that I had the speed required to bring the Master Sword around and hit the Hero hard.

He stared at me for a moment, obviously perplexed by my strange stance, but said nothing. He drew his sword and lifted his shield, signaling that he was ready.

Instead of rushing in for a quick strike, though, I waited. The Hero paced around me quietly, but I didn't move a muscle. Although he was an undead being and didn't react the same way a human would, I knew he was caught off guard by my sudden change in strategy.

Finally he struck, moving from my left and stabbing his sword towards my side. It was a perfect strike, and should have caught me in an awkward position. I was unable to block a stab with the armor on my wrist, and my sword was extended out to the right, held in my right hand. I couldn't bring it around in time to parry the attack, but I had been hoping he would try this.

In my close-combat training course I had taken several years ago, the instructors had stressed the importance of using our armor systems as an offensive aid rather than simply as a defensive last resort. I knew from many hits that my TALOS suit could handle glancing blows and most slashing attacks from the Hero's sword, so I leaned back and turned slightly as he stabbed. The attack missed by millimeters, and I turned towards the Hero, reaching my left arm over and around his sword.

As my hand clamped over the hilt of his blade, he immediately knew what I would do. His shield was in his right hand, putting him in an awkward position to defend from my counterattack, so he immediately let go of his sword and turned to his left. The edge of his shield caught the Master Sword, but I wasn't done.

With the Hero's sword now in my control, I flipped it around and held it in my left hand. Before the Hero could regain solid footing, I slammed into him, knocking him off balance. He blocked my follow-up strike with the Master Sword, but couldn't get his shield down fast enough to stop my blow to his legs, forcing him to jump over it.

 _Now!_

I rammed into him again, knocking him down to the floor of the forest. In one swift motion, I stepped on top of his shield, pinning it to the forest floor, and drove his own sword into his right arm. It didn't penetrate his thick undead bone, but I was able to hold him against the ground as I thrust the Master Sword into his chest with my right hand. The minimal armor he was wearing creaked as it tore apart, and the Master Sword punched down into his body.

He stared at me for a moment, and then nodded. I removed the Master Sword from his chest and checked my watch.

"Forty seconds." I said, handing his sword back to him and stepping away. "I'm assuming this means I can go sleep now?"

"Yes, you may." The Hero said. "I see now that I underestimated you. I hadn't given enough credit to the warriors of modern times. Rest now, and prepare for the continuation of your training tonight."

I turned and walked out of the woods, sheathing the Master Sword as I did so. Malon had walked over to pick up the dead cuccos, and looked up at me curiously when I emerged from the woods.

"Did you forget something?" She asked.

"No, I'm done for the day." I said, making an effort to not sound conceited.

"Oh, well that's good. We're going to need more wood soon, so can you go take care of that real quick?"

I realized immediately that I wasn't going to be able to rest. We still had to survive.

With a small sigh, I nodded and trudged back into the woods to begin searching. It didn't take long, but there was still plenty to do around the camp. By the time I was able to lay back down in the gunship, it was past noon.

Malon climbed in behind me, shutting the door and crawling under the blankets to stave off the cold. I felt like this was all we did, but I didn't mind at this particular moment.

"Goddesses, we're in a mess out here." She said, her teeth chattering. "I might freeze before we even start the long hike."

"Who knows?" I said. "Maybe Rauru and Impa are staging a rescue operation right now. Hopefully they feel some sort of obligation to find us."

"Honestly, I don't think they will. I've been with the Special Services Corps for three years and they've never once gone out of their way to run a rescue mission for one of their own. It's kind of a shock when you realize that nobody's coming to get you on missions like this, but I look at it as them having faith in our abilities. We haven't had anyone killed in actual combat since Zelda's father was in power." Malon said. "Lenzo doesn't count, since that was an electronic failure during planetary entry."

"So basically we're on our own during missions?" I asked.

"For better or worse, yes." Malon replied. "If Impa thought we needed extra help, she would have sent Sword or Ralis with us, since they're next up the hierarchy in terms of seniority. Honestly I'm surprised she let me come with you, but I guess she figured you could use my knowledge of the Lost Woods."

"Good thing she did, otherwise my flesh would probably be rotting off by now, and I definitely wouldn't have found the Master Sword."

"Probably." Malon said, but changed the subject. "I wonder what's going on in the city. There's supposed to be a war going on, but we're far enough away that we would have no idea. If only the radio worked…"

"We can't do anything about it right now, so it's hardly worth worrying about." I said.

We laid in silence for a moment, and I was glad for the peace. For the first time in almost a week of constant activity, I was able to lay down and rest without the threat of immediate harassment or death. I hadn't slept before I left, so my mind had been going for a week straight without a significant break. If my body hadn't had a chance to shut down, I would be at my breaking point. Regardless, I was still seeing shadow people in my peripheral vision and hearing voices. That was a significant sign of exhaustion, and I knew it wouldn't be long before I started to crash. Not even a full day of real sleep would fix that problem, but I'd have to work with what I had.

Just as I closed my eyes, though, I heard a noise outside.

"What's that?" I asked quietly.

"It sounds like… rotors." Malon whispered. "Whatever it is, it's getting closer. I know I just said we wouldn't be getting rescued, but this sure sounds like a search and rescue team to me."

"No, I don't think so." I said, noting the rough pitch of the rotors cutting through the air. Even the most basic Hylian military helicopters and gunships didn't have rotors that loud. The Collective, on the other hand, hadn't advanced their engineering skills nearly as far as the Empire.

I moved over to the gunner's window in the tail section, climbing down into the seat and looking through the small periscope.

"Malon, you'd better come here and look at this." I said, my heart nearly leaping out of my chest.

"What is it?" She asked, worried.

"Collective soldiers." I answered. "A lot of them."

It looked like my nap was going to have to wait.

…

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**

 **I haven't been getting many reviews and it's a little disheartening. I write this for my readers, so I like to hear their thoughts.**

 **Summary of edits**

 **No more Hylia. I can't justify using a goddess as a minor side character. Her presence is alluded to, though**

 **Link no longer receives new armor from Hylia, since she doesn't appear to him in the new version**

 **Link learns to blend with the shadows from the Hero of Light rather than Impa because I thought that just made a lot more sense**

 **There's a little bit better of a description as to what goes on during Link's training**

 **The lack of quality sleep starts to affect Link**

 **I had to rewrite this whole chapter. This general sentiment and storyline progression is the same, but the text is significantly different. I didn't copy and paste anything this time.**


	8. Part 1 Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Link

The enemy company was moving towards us slowly, surrounding the gunship as they did so. They had to know we were here because the campfire was still burning, so a stealthy escape wouldn't be an option at this point. It looked like they had been dropped off by the large transport helicopters circling the area. Even though those helicopters didn't have the firepower of our gunship, they still had grenade launchers and automatic weapons mounted on the side doors.

 _There's so many of them._ I thought to myself, estimating that there were around 150 soldiers surrounding us. Our only escape route was the Lost Woods, but wandering around there was the equivalent of certain death. Even that possibility was becoming unlikely as the Collective company formed a perimeter around our gunship.

A month ago, taking out an enemy group of this size would have been child's play. My magic had been more than capable of that. Expelling Demise's aura from myself had changed the nature of what I was able to do with my abilities, though. The new magic I was imbued with was much less potent, and completely incapable of directly harming other people. It only worked to support me.

I knew that the Hero of Light had been trying to prepare me for a moment like this. I had been able to blend with the shadows on the second night of training, but I didn't know if I could get my body to do it in Hyrule. After all, I had never actually tried.

Malon peeked out the window, analyzing the situation.

"How the hell do they have working helicopters?" She asked. "And how did they know we were here?"

"They may not be looking for us." I offered, hoping against hope. "They might be a patrol and just happened to run into what looked like an abandoned gunship."

"I've never heard of an entire company patrolling an area this desolate. Usually that would be at the platoon level."

I knew she was right, and so I refocused my efforts into finding a way out of this problem.

Even if I successfully pulled off the shadow trick, there was no way I could take out that many people before one of their magicians caught on and attacked me. By my count, I could see at least one magician per platoon dressed in the signature gray armor of the Collective Magicians' Corps. That meant there were probably four in the company, although there was always the potential for more that were hidden among the regular infantry.

If they knew who they were coming to find, there _would_ be more.

"Do the guns on the front and back of our ship still work?" I asked.

"With the hand controls, yes." Malon said. "But unless you know a way to knock their helicopters out of the sky immediately, they'll just poke us full of holes. Those pilots aren't going to stand by while we mow down the infantry."

"Any solutions?" I asked her.

Malon shook her head, her face grim.

"The only option I see is an escape into the woods." She said. "I can use my defensive magic to deflect bullets coming from behind us as we run, so if you ran ahead and cleared a path we might make it."

"Can your magic stop grenade launchers?" I asked, peering at the enemy helicopters.

"I never said it was a perfect plan."

I looked at her, the gravity of the situation setting in. This could be it. I could die right here. I'd been in a few sticky situations, but I'd always had my unnaturally powerful magic to bail me out. At the very least, I hadn't been relying on a sword as my only weapon.

"I've got a plan, but you probably won't like it very much." I said.

"What is it?" Malon asked.

"If they were on a kill mission, those helicopters would have already opened up on us. They would have sent gunships or jets, not infantry. I think they know who they're coming after, and they want to capture us alive as a morale thing." I said. "With that said, standard Collective operating procedure for clearing a gunship is to have two men on either side of the door and a machine gun crew about twenty meters away, ready to open fire if we attack."

"What's your plan, then?"

"I need you to surrender once they stack up outside the door." I said.

Malon didn't waste any time with drama.

"Okay, but why?"

"The Hero of Light taught me a way to blend with the shadows. I'm going to use it to go kill their magicians." I replied. "If I'm successful, it's going to cause some sort of commotion. Use that distraction to get back in the gunship and start opening up with the Gatling Gun. The idea is to get them to funnel to the sides of the gunship to get away from the fire, at which point I'll drop every grenade I've got on them. Once they're in a state of chaos, we both escape into the tree line. We'll stay close enough to not lose sight of Hyrule Field, and hopefully they'll evacuate."

"And when you run out of grenades?" She asked.

"I'll use theirs."

"Why not just open up with the guns now? I might not be able to escape, so shouldn't we use this opportunity to start shooting?"

This was standard procedure for on-the-fly plans. I was glad that Malon was questioning me, simply for the fact that I could develop a sounder plan in my head before I got into the action.

"The day I believe you can't escape from some Collective infantry, I'll retire." I said. "But we don't want those helicopters to open up on us, and those magicians are the key to their success. Plus, we need to add the element of confusion to their operation. The last thing they'll have trained for is one of us to assassinate the mages and then attack them from the shadows."

Malon breathed in and out slowly, obviously trying to stay calm. Both of us had faced death many times during our military service, but this was probably the most damning situation we could have been caught in.

The enemy forces paused and laid down unexpectedly. This would be the absolute worst time to bust out.

"What are they waiting for?" Malon asked, her face pressed up against the glass next to mine. Fortunately, the window was bulletproof and one-way.

"Probably a commander. Their company commanders usually hang back a safe distance from the shooting and observe the action from a drone…"

 _That's it!_

The fault in the command structure of the King's Collective was that it relied on its officers too heavily. Although the junior officers and senior enlisted were sometimes capable of maintaining control, most missions would immediately end if the commanding officer was killed. The Hylian Military had had so much success because leadership at every level was able to carry on a mission after losing a commanding officer.

If I could simply spot the drone and take it out, the commander of these troops would be removed from the action, even if only briefly. This would throw their blockade into confusion and grant Malon and myself a better chance at an escape. In a best-case but unlikely scenario, the entire company would leave the area.

"Look for a drone." I said, shifting to the front of the gunship to look out of the cockpit window. It was only a matter of seconds before I saw it. It was hovering to the right of the cockpit, just inside the range of the guns on the front of the ship. I took the hand controls and aimed the main gun directly at it.

"Found it." I said. "I'm going to shoot it down."

"Use the 7.62 so you don't cause mayhem." Malon replied.

Nestled in the center of the 30mm Gatling Gun barrels was a single 7.62mm internally suppressed machine gun used for close range air-to-ground fighting. Typically pilots would switch to the 7.62 when flying in between buildings in an urban setting. It had been developed due to the chance of overpenetration by 30mm rounds that could kill sheltered civilians several houses away. Although the Collective soldiers outside would still hear the bullet pass overhead, the suppressor would ensure that they weren't entirely sure where it came from.

I squeezed the triggers, blowing the drone out of the sky with a short burst of fire. The Collective troops surrounding us all started yelling and motioning in every direction, unsure of where the bullets had come from. Several seconds passed, but nobody fired back. That would have required the permission of an officer who could no longer see the scene.

"You're not as dumb as you look." Malon said, the hint of a grin on her face. It was a testament to her courage and experience that she could still come up with jokes in a situation like this.

Once thirty seconds had passed, I closed my eyes and willed myself into the shadows. My mind slipped away, and my body followed easily. Within seconds, I was completely concealed within Malon's minimal shadow. I knew this plan wasn't going to work out, so I mentally prepared to make adjustments on the fly.

"Go." I said, my voice echoing eerily around the inside of the gunship.

Malon opened the door of the gunship a few inches and stuck her hands out.

"Don't shoot!" She yelled. "I'm unarmed!"

Seconds later, the door was yanked open and three Collective soldiers descended on her. I slipped between shadows as they threw her to the ground and cuffed her.

I noticed in passing that these Collective soldiers each wore thicker armor than typical infantry, and their shoulder plates had two thin black stripes. That was the mark of the Collective Army Special Operations Group 7, which trained in VIP acquisition and hostage rescue.

 _Collective Command definitely knew who they were coming after._ I thought to myself, eyeing the closest magician. He was already preparing a spell to block Malon's magical abilities, so I slipped into his shadow first.

I barely had to leave the shadows to drive my knife between two vertebrae in the base of his neck, unimpeded by his featherweight armor. He dropped like a rock, pouring spinal fluid and blood onto the grass.

"Medic!"

A combat medic ran over to the dying mage, but the rest of the company was focused on Malon.

"Package secured! Somebody inform command and let's get out of here."

As people started yelling, I made it to the next mage and severed his carotid artery with a swift jab. It struck me that the men capturing Malon didn't seem to be looking for a second person, which would explain why the other two mages hadn't started probing the area for a concealed attacker yet. From where they were standing, they would have assumed that Malon was up to something.

I dispatched the third mage and set my sights on the fourth. I could feel a much stronger aura coming from him, and knew immediately that he was trying to find me. I rushed to him, using the shadows of the tall grass to conceal my presence, and drove my blade between his ribs and into his heart, severing the aorta and killing him almost immediately after he hit the ground.

Faced with the sudden and inexplicable death of the mages, every platoon had descended into a mild state of confusion. This had been the plan all along, but my next actions were the key to our success.

I had four grenades from the weapons locker in the gunship, but I decided to hold off on using them until Malon was able to get back in the gunship. That would ensure I didn't inadvertently hurt her, and also allow her to get the Collective troops gathered on the sides of the ship to get away from the Gatling Gun and into my trap.

I cut down a few soldiers who gave any indication of being in leadership and then examined the area again, being sure to note which soldiers had grenades I could use.

Malon had escaped and locked herself in the gunship again. In a few seconds, the Gatling Gun started eviscerating all of the soldiers forming a perimeter around the front side. Just like I had predicted, they started running towards the side of the ship to get out of the way, but not before Malon had killed over a dozen of them.

The Collective soldiers on the backside of the gunship didn't get the hint quick enough, and suddenly the smaller tail gun started shredding through them. One of the soldiers took his rocket launcher off his back, but I killed him before he had a chance to aim.

Seeing that my enemies were bunched up, I pulled the pins on two grenades and threw them into the crowd. There were several yells, followed by two explosions that killed several Collective soldiers each. Even those that weren't hit by shrapnel were knocked off their feet. I threw my other two grenades into the crowd of Collective soldiers on the other side of the gunship, but I couldn't see how many I killed.

One of the enemy helicopters screamed overhead, and I realized too late that I had made a mistake. These helicopters were lightly armed, but they also carried giant electrical prongs on the front end. One helicopter landed on the opposite end of the gunship, and one landed in front of me.

The prongs activated, sending electricity searing through the gunship from both directions. The steady stream of fire from the tail gun stopped immediately, and I could only stare in horror.

 _How did I not consider this? How did I not know they had this kind of technological capability? I've never seen this before._

After what seemed like an eternity, the two helicopters disengaged and lifted off the ground again, moving back into the air to circle the area. Within seconds, the battered Collective infantry had swarmed the gunship and were setting up charges on the door.

 _Don't stop thinking._ I told myself. It seemed like such an obvious thing, but the natural human tendency at this point was to panic. I started moving closer through the shadows in case they tried to kill Malon. The electricity wouldn't have killed her, but she would probably be unconscious or severely injured.

 _She's counting on you, so don't let her get killed._

The Collective soldiers backed away, activating the charges once they were out of the blast zone. The door of the gunship popped off like a cork, and several of them rushed in to drag Malon out.

I held my breath as an officer came forward to check her pulse.

"She's good." I heard him say. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then refocused on the situation.

Even though my plan had failed, I was in a good position for the moment. The entire company seemed to believe that they were safe now that Malon was being handcuffed. They had obviously only been looking for one person, and were satisfied in having found her. This could work to my advantage. It was going to take them a while to bag the bodies of their dead and clear the area, but I would wait.

I already had a new plan.

…

Hours passed before the Collective troops were able to get everything together. I was amazed at their inefficiency. Their commanding officer showed up halfway through the process, screaming and yelling at anyone around him. I took a sadistic pleasure in the fact that his command drone being shot out of the sky was a central focus of his temper tantrum.

 _What self-respecting commander carries on like that in front of his troops?_ I wondered to myself.

I was still sitting by Malon, who was starting to come around. The electrical shocks had seared lightning-shaped patterns into her skin and burnt of strips of clothing off underneath the armor, which was now lying in a smoking heap on the ground by the gunship. One of the soldiers had thrown a blanket over her, which I took note of. These Collective soldiers weren't the hate-filled zealots I normally ran into, which was surprising. I certainly wouldn't have shown compassion to anyone who had just killed my companions.

When Malon woke up, she tried to sit. A nearby soldier noticed her and pushed her back to the ground with his foot.

"Stay down. Don't need you causing any more trouble." He said. "You're lucky I don't cut your throat after you killed that many of my friends."

 _Well, obviously a few of them are upset about it. I don't know what this dude was expecting coming into this mission._

Malon stared at him, her eyes burning with hatred. She was wide awake now.

"Fuck you." She said, her voice dripping with venom. "Let me up and fight me like a man. I'll take you with my bare hands."

The soldier simply laughed, keeping his foot on her chest. She squirmed angrily, but eventually settled into a quiet rage. I watched from the shadows, wishing I could do something to help her without blowing my cover. Finally, the soldier who had given Malon a blanket returned.

"Get out of here, private." He said, shooing the soldier away and then turning to Malon.

"You really did quite a number on my guys." He said, looking down at her with sympathy. "I'm just a contracted doctor, so it's not as personal to me."

I realized that this man must have been with the command team that flew in afterwards.

 _Why doesn't he wear some sort of medical identifier?_ I wondered. I might have killed him without realizing he was a noncombatant.

"How many?" Malon asked.

"How many dead? Thirty-six, with eight more injured. Nineteen killed by the mounted guns, thirteen by shrapnel from grenades, and four by a bladed weapon" The mage replied. "You dropped a grenades into multiple groups of them and hacked a bunch apart while somehow magically being inside the gunship at the same time. Not sure how you could have pulled that off while being alone, but I'm not paid to ask questions. Arnav Nohansen wanted you alive, so I'm here to make sure you stay that way."

 _He knows someone else is with her._

Once the doctor had finished checking Malon's wounds, he made his way back into the group on injured Collective soldiers. Now that I had a minute with Malon alone, I risked reaching out to touch her shoulder from the shadows. I squeezed gently so that she would know I hadn't abandoned her.

"Thank you." She whispered.

I noticed that the gunships were beginning to power up, so I stood up and followed Malon as the Collective soldiers dragged her into one. She was loaded with most of the dead bodies and handcuffed to a rail, and then the company commander stepped in with her. He was followed by several of the other officers. I slipped in as the helicopter lifted off the ground.

These helicopters were troop transports, and were much bigger than the Hylian gunship we were leaving behind. I had plenty of places to hide, but I could feel my hold on the shadows slipping. I wouldn't be able to maintain my ability for much longer.

I watched out the open door as we rocketed away from our temporary home. Just inside the tree line, I could see a certain Stalfos watching me depart. I nodded in appreciation, knowing that he could see me.

"So why don't we begin a…pre-interrogation?" I heard the commander ask behind me. I turned to see the junior officers looking at each other uncomfortably. One of them decided to speak up.

"Sir, I don't think you're supposed to do anything to prisoners of war. They're to be treated humanely and with respect, regardless of whatever actions they took in the battle before they were captured. Plus, our intelligence says that this is one of the queen's personal guards, which puts her in one of the most protected classifications of enemy POW's."

The commander stared at the young man for several long seconds.

"I'll tell you what, Lieutenant." He said, "How about the next time I want advice from a private with a gold bar, I'll let you know."

"Sir I've been in the military longer than you…"

"Goddammit, Lieutenant. Shut the hell up."

"Yes, sir."

The commander turned back to Malon, who was looking up at him with a newfound rage.

"What are you planning on doing?" She asked, her anger carefully contained for the moment.

"Well, since we _did_ just get out of combat with you, I suppose I could probably get away with a few… combat wounds. Just a memento, you know? For the thirty-six men you killed."

"So electrocuting me wasn't good enough?"

He pulled her blanket off and kicked her hard in the side. I heard a crunch as a rib broke, and decided to step in. I reached up and yanked the radios off all four officers in rapid succession, tossing them out the side of the gunship. They all jumped and turned around, but still couldn't see me.

I released my hold on the shadows, appearing suddenly in front of the officers. From their perspective, I had come out of thin air, already holding the Master Sword at the neck of the commander.

"Does beating on helpless women make you feel like a man?" I asked quietly, just loud enough so that I could be heard over the engines. "You've got her locked to the floor of the gunship, and she can't fight back. So I'm going to _suggest_ that you leave her alone."

All of the officers stared at me in horror. The commander was inching his hand towards his holstered firearm, so I slammed the Master Sword down into it, cutting the entire belt off of his body. The handgun bounced on the floor and I kicked it out of the helicopter.

"Anyone else feel like trying to draw on me? If not, you'd better throw those handguns out." I asked, making eye contact with each of the other officers. Reluctantly, they all dropped their gun belts and let their handguns fall out of the door.

"Who the hell are you?" The Collective commander finally forced out.

"Hylian Naval Special Operations." I said, pushing him back into the wall of the cabin. "Also one of the queen's guards. I'm probably on a Collective hit list, but you're too stupid to figure out that there were two people involved in killing your men. Maybe if you'd spent less time yelling at everyone and more time actually investigating the details of the attack, you'd have realized that something was off. I won't complain, though, because your incompetence benefits me.

"Even better, now you've pissed me off." I continued. "Turns out, I really care about that girl you're kicking around. I think I might kill you."

I saw a brief flash of fear in the commander's eyes, but then they went blank. To me, he looked deranged and unhinged, so I wasn't about to give this guy a chance. He had shown total disregard for Malon's humanity. I would have been mad if he'd done that to anyone, but he had made this personal by kicking Malon.

I drove the Master Sword into his neck, disgusted with myself and the situation at the same time. I had killed too many people, and I was tired of it. But it looked as if the killing would never stop. There was always something or someone new causing problems, and it always seemed like it was up to me to go solve those problems with precise applications of deadly force.

I turned to the other officers as their commander's body flopped to the ground, looking them each in the eyes.

"There's parachutes hanging on the wall behind you." I said. "I suggest you three get out of here now."

All three junior officers wasted no time grabbing a parachute, strapping up, and leaping from the side of the helicopter. Fortunately, we were in the back of the flight formation and the falling officers weren't noticed.

I smashed Malon's handcuffs with my sword and kneeled down next to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Through the tears in her shirt, I could see the broken rib swelling and bruising heavily.

"You bastard, what took you so long?" Malon asked, clutching her side. I smiled half-heartedly.

"Sorry, there was no other way. You think you can fly this thing?"

"You jest. I can fly anything."

"Good." I said, turning my attention to the cockpit door. Collective helicopters sealed their pilots in an armored enclosure, which included a heavy door. I had learned a few tricks through the years, as well as an easy exploit of the locking mechanism, so getting through the door itself wouldn't be a problem.

The problem was in remaining undetected to the rest of the formation. There were four other helicopters and two transports, which had shown up after the fact. Each pilot had a panic button that would alert the rest of the formation to trouble within the ship itself. If either one of the pilots were given the opportunity to press that panic button, all four of the other gunships would turn and fire instantly.

If I pulled off a quick attack, however, I'd be able to launch a deadly surprise from the back of the formation using the electrical prongs that had been used to capture Malon. This particular troop transport helicopter had a full load of anti-air missiles, too, which was more than enough to take out the unsuspecting enemies in front of us.

I'd just have to act quickly. The exploit was simple, and the cockpit door swung open with small creak. Both pilots were engaged in a heated debate and seemed to not have noticed the small yellow light that turned on when the door was unlocked.

"I mean, honestly I'm just wondering how this all worked out so well." The co-pilot said. "We landed on the most heavily defended planet in the galaxy with no resistance and proceeded to take nearly complete control of the place with minimal use of force apart from the initial bombardment of Castle Town. It doesn't add up."

"That kind of talk will get you put on desk duty." The pilot said. "You need to start keeping your thoughts to yourself."

"All I'm saying is that there's something fishy going on." The co-pilot argued. "It doesn't necessarily mean Lord Nohansen is misleading us. I just never imagined the grand invasion would be this easy. Could the Hylians have planned this?"

"You know they'd never let us set foot on Castle without a fight for the ages."

"And yet here we are on Castle. No fight. No defenses. Even the military was broken up and scattered. The chain is saying that we'll be in control of Castle Town within a week."

"Well… I don't know about that. I've heard it's a total shit show down there. Everyone's got a gun and they're holding us off pretty well. I heard another pilot talking about how he was scheduled as a quick reaction for a platoon that got ambushed outside Castle Town's walls. They were dead before he got there."

"So not only are they defending the city, they're-"

"Running offensive operations, as well." I said. Both pilots jumped at the sound of my voice, and I used the opportunity to smash both their helmets together. They leaned over, unconscious. I reached up and pressed the autopilot button, and then dragged the main pilot out of his seat.

"All right, get in there." I said to Malon. She crawled up the wall, using her uninjured side to support her weight. Somehow she managed to get into the cramped pilot's seat while I dragged the co-pilot out. Once I had recovered both of their helmets and locked them two a rail in the back of the helicopter, I sat in the second seat and shut the door.

"I need you to take down the four other gunships. I'm sure you've noticed that there's missiles, and I think we could use the electrical attack to short circuit all the hardware on any helicopters that survive." I said. Malon nodded, pressing a few buttons on the weapons panel. Red squares covered the gunships through the visual display on the window.

"Gotta give them credit where it's due." Malon said. "Their weapons systems are top notch. I'm going to dump five missiles per gunship. Even one of those will shred those things apart, so we shouldn't need the prongs."

"Do it."

She pulled a trigger, and the missiles fired off in rapid succession. All twenty of them found their unsuspecting marks, ripping the Collective gunships to shreds. They fell from the sky like meteors, exploding as they impacted with the ground. Immediately, the earpiece in the enemy pilot's helmet exploded.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Number five, what did you see?"

Listening to the chatter, I realized that nobody had actually seen us fire the missiles. It was a reasonable assumption, and the absolute best-case scenario. It was the rear guard's job to watch behind the formation, which meant that nobody else had been looking. Even the lead helicopter's radar wouldn't have been able to pick up the signature of missiles fired from less than a hundred meters away.

One of the transporter pilots made the decision to turn back to search for survivors, which left his ship wide open for another missile barrage. Like the gunships, it fell to the ground engulfed in flames. The other transport turned the opposite direction in an attempt to escape, but Malon fired the last two missiles into its side, ripping it into pieces and sending them tumbling to the ground.

With that, Malon and I were left alone in the sky. Between the two of us, we had just eliminated an entire enemy company. There was a sobering silence for a few minutes as we pondered the mess we had just gotten out of.

Finally, Malon turned autopilot back on and leaned back in her seat.

"I've got us headed towards Castle Town." She said. "This isn't a particularly fast helicopter, so it's going to take about an hour. We'll have our own adventure once we get there. If Hylian forces are still controlling the place, they're going to shoot this ship down on sight."

"Let's worry about that later." I said. "I need to treat those burns before they get infected."

Malon groaned and looked down at her right side, where the electrical pulse seemed to have done the most damage. The lightning-patterned burns twisted and forked all the way down through her right foot, and had shredded almost all of her clothing on top of those areas.

"This is going to leave an awful scar." She said, lightly touching one of the burns.

"It's called a Lichtenberg Figure." I said, rummaging around in one of the cockpit's compartments for a first aid kit. "And yes, it's going to scar. Nothing to do about it now except to make sure it doesn't get infected. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about your rib, either. That's going to have to heal on its own unless I can find some cementing biofluid, which I don't think the Collective has access to."

"I don't think it's a bad break." She replied. "Just give me some pain killers."

I helped her into the back and, ignoring the pile of bagged bodies, treated her wounds to the best of my ability. Disinfecting and wrapping all of the burns took quite a bit of time, and we were only about thirty kilometers out from Castle Town by the time I finished.

Malon groaned and laid back down on the ground.

"Goddesses, I can't believe I survived that. I thought they were going to kill me when they electrocuted the gunship."

"I wouldn't have let them." I said. "They'd have had to kill me first."

Malon smiled half-heartedly, and I could see that she was getting drowsy as the pain killers set in.

"Thank you, really." She said. "You've saved me twice now. I'm beginning to think that I was more of a liability on this mission than anything else."

"Don't worry about that." I replied. "This mission would have been impossible without you, and you saved my sorry ass from several Stalfos on the way out of the forest."

"Good point. I guess we're even."

"No, I'll save you as many times as I need to and never expect anything in return." I said, realizing too late that it maybe wasn't the time to be saying that kind of stuff.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly as Malon peered at me curiously. "Anyways, I hear the radio so I'm going to go check on it."

Malon grabbed my hand, stopping me from standing up.

"You're going to say something like that and then walk away?" She asked, grinning.

"In the interest of not getting shot down by Castle Town anti-air, yes." I replied, donning the Collective pilot's helmet. Both of the pilots were unconscious in the back of the helicopter, tied down so that they couldn't move.

The radio chatter started again as soon as I sat down in the cockpit.

"Castle Town Defense to unidentified gunship, you are in Hylian Empire airspace. Turn around or you will be fired upon."

I grabbed the radio from the console.

"Negative, Defense." I said. "This is a hijacked Collective gunship. Two Hylians are on board."

There was a moment of radio silence before the defense grid radio operator responded.

"State your identifying tags."

"Corporal Link White, Hylian Navy, Special Services Corps, ID one-six-nine, zero-eight-one-six-six-three. Lieutenant Malon, uh…"

"Malon, what the hell's your last name?" I asked.

"Mizusawa, ID nine-zero-five, four-three-three-five-two-one." She said from the back of the gunship.

"Lieutenant Malon Mizusawa, Hylian Army, Special Services Corps, ID nine-zero-five, four-three-three-five-two-one." I said into the microphone. "Requesting permission to land inside the city and receive medical treatment. The Lieutenant is ambulatory, but unable to walk on her own. Broken rib and electrical burns."

"Very well. Land in sector 435. There's going to be an armed escort waiting for you, so don't try anything funny."

"Roger that, out." I said, putting the mic away. I turned to the back.

"Unless you want to actually die today, I'm going to need you to land this thing."

Malon groaned and sat up. I clambered out and helped her into the pilot's seat, and then watched as we crossed over Castle Town's wall. Two Collective gunships that had been repainted with Hylian colors rose from the city to meet us, guiding us towards our landing zone near the castle.

When we landed, I noticed a large contingent of guards advancing on the ship from the alleys. A few civilians were mixed in with them, and there was a shadowy figure in the background.

"Sword is down there to meet us." I said, pointing her out to Malon.

"Oh, good." Malon replied, her relief evident. "I was hoping we weren't the only ones who survived."

I opened the doors and helped Malon out of the ship. There was already a group of soldiers waiting to take her.

"Where is she going?" I asked, allowing them to take her from me.

"42nd and Central. There's an old medical center that we're using as a trauma center." One of the soldiers told me.

I took Malon's hand and squeezed it briefly.

"I'm going to figure out what's going on, and then I'll be right there." I said. Malon nodded, and the group of soldiers laid her on a stretcher. As they wheeled her away, Sword drifted towards me.

"What's the status on the city?" I asked, hoping I'd get more than just a cursory answer.

"Not here." She replied quietly, gesturing for me to follow.

We ran down an alley in the heart of the ruined city, cut through a bombed-out house, and slipped underneath the castle wall. The SSC headquarters was just across the yard, and seemed to be in decent shape. We made it inside and Sword shut the door behind me. I looked around the dining area.

Rauru, Impa, Nabooru, Bo, and Rusl were sitting at the table with Queen Zelda herself, who was covered up by one of the spare TALOS Mark III armor suits. She said nothing, but nodded in acknowledgement when I walked in.

"Well, good to see you guys." I said, breaking the tense silence. "I've had an interesting week, and I'm sure all of you have as well."

"Indeed." Impa said. "Go shower and clean yourself up, please. We still have running water, though likely not for long. After you're done, come upstairs and we'll fill you in on everything that's happened here."

I sighed in relief. I could only imagine how bad I smelled right now.

As I started walking downstairs to my room, Impa stopped me.

"Link."

"Yes?" I asked, turning to her again.

"Please shave that beard. It looks ridiculous."

…

Once I had cleaned up and changed into regular clothing, I came back upstairs. All I wanted to do was sleep, but once again that would have to wait. Everyone was still waiting for me patiently.

"So do you want to hear my story first, or are you going to start?" I asked Impa, assuming she would be doing the talking.

"I don't need to hear your story." Impa said. "I can see that you accomplished the task that was given to you, and we don't have time to worry about the means. A lot has happened while you were gone. First, would you care to explain what happened to Malon?"

"We were ambushed by a Collective company." I said, taking a seat at the table. "They were obviously trying to capture us, because they had their gunships loaded up with stun prongs. They got Malon pretty good, but she'll be all right. She's at the hospital right now."

"Very well. You'll need to go get her and bring her back later." Impa said. "Excellent work capturing that gunship. The Hylian Army definitely needs it right now. So here's what happened.

"Right after you left, the military blew open the building all the old firearms were stored in and started distributing them to veterans and police officers. That pushed Spud past the breaking point. The three technicians trapped in there are still there being held hostage, so that situation has only degraded since you left."

"What's with all the EMP's?" I asked. "We got hit by one strong enough to knock out the gunship."

"Spud also took control of the nukes and used them to knock out power to the populated areas of the planet." Impa replied. "Naturally, the Collective swooped in immediately and started bombarding the city. For the first three days it was a complete nightmare. They attacked with artillery from East Hyrule Field, but wouldn't send any troops or air units because of our defenses. They were trying to break us down before they stormed Castle Town, but our military was able to assemble and drive the artillery guns back into the desert."

"So we're at a stalemate right now?" I asked.

"Somewhat. The Collective still has the upper hand because their electronics work, whereas most of ours don't. Their navy took advantage of the compromised status of the orbital cannons and have blockaded the planet. We currently only have the Army's strength, and its units are scattered all over Castle."

"The Navy can't punch through the blockade?" I asked.

"They could, but we can't even communicate with them right now. We have no idea what's going on." Impa replied. "Our main tasks right now include repairing the damage done by the EMP's, keeping the Collective uncomfortable, and regaining control of or destroying Spud."

Zelda stood up and walked over to the window, staring out of it. I didn't bother to ask why she was so forlorn. I didn't have to.

"Also, we lost Ralis in the initial bombardment." Impa said.

I looked back to her, shocked.

"Ralis is dead?" I asked.

"Yes."

That took things to a whole new level. Ralis had been the SSC's technological expert. I hadn't known him that well, but his death brought the war to a much more personal level.

"We figured out that Spud has been attempting to control the minds of Hylians for years now." Rauru said. "For whatever reason he wasn't able to, but that was what was causing so many Hylians to experience intense migraines, including the Queen. We believe that he has succeeded in claiming the minds of most of the Collective leadership, though, as they work to support him. We're yet to figure out why Hylians couldn't be controlled."

 _That would explain that company commander's brainwashed look and erratic behavior._ I thought to myself.

"Regardless, we have a war to fight." Impa said. "We've still got air defense, and we managed to repair some of the infrastructure damaged by the EMP's. There's water and electricity in the downtown areas, as well as the castle, even if it's spotty. There's several dozen transport craft and a handful of gunships that were stored in an underground bunker. Our naval fleets are probably gathering as we speak, too. Even better, the Collective's leadership believes Zelda escaped the planet, and are not actively searching for her. Even if they were, the last place they would expect her to be is right next to the castle."

"So this situation isn't hopeless?" I asked.

"It's not hopeless, but the fleets aren't equipped to take a planet _back_ from the Collective. We've never had to do that before. Plus, without communication on the ground, the battle is basically useless. Most of the dedicated infantry is down here, so the Collective has essentially split our forces."

"Then what do we need to do to get in contact with the fleets?" I asked.

"There's a satellite relay station five hundred kilometers north. It's in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, but that's what has prevented it from being destroyed by the Collective. Based on the placement of the nukes, we believe that it was mostly unaffected by the EMP's. Unfortunately our relay station here was unable to be repaired, and the medium-range radios that were stored underground don't have the capability to reach the northern station."

"So someone needs to travel north and set up probes to forward the radio signal to the northern station?" I asked.

"Yes, and then someone needs to activate the station itself." Impa replied. "It's only there in the event of an emergency, so it wasn't broadcasting on its own."

"That makes total sense. Drop an emergency relay station in the middle of the most frigid ocean on the planet. That'll be super easy to get to in an emergency." I complained. "So how long do I have? I'm assuming you're sending me."

"No, I'm not. I was simply answering your question. A team of Army Rangers is working its way there right now." Impa said. "You're going to rest and then make yourself known to the troops defending the city. Remember that in their eyes, you're a hero. The best sniper that ever graced the Hylian Empire. Whether or not you agree with that assessment, these troops need the morale that your presence brings."

I sighed, but nodded. She was right.

"Soon we're going to strike out at the heart of the Collective's leadership, and you're going to be the key to that." Rauru said, finally speaking out. "We're working on getting more information for the moment, and you need to heal."

"Okay." I said, standing up. "I'm going to go to the hospital now and make sure Malon's doing okay. Is there anything else before I go?"

"You're in a war zone. Aren't you going to take your armor? What about a weapon?" Impa asked, looking down at my attire. I was only wearing a gray-green cloak over my warmest clothing.

"I've got the Master Sword." I said, lifting the cloak so that Impa could see it attached to my belt. "I'll just use that for now, and if they start bombarding us with artillery again even my TALOS suit won't hold up."

Zelda stared at the Master Sword for a few moments, her eyes going wide in shock.

"This is what they were doing?" She asked incredulously.

"Indeed." Impa said. "Go, Link. Get some rest while you're there."

I nodded, walking out the door and into the cold evening air.

…

Zelda

…

I was secretly impressed with Link's resolve. Even after he had cleaned up, it was obvious that he needed sleep. He could barely stand without swaying, but he still left to check on Malon.

"I can't believe they found that." I said as he walked out. "It gives me some kind of girlish hope for a happy ending."

"There's never a happy ending in war." Impa said. Rauru nodded in agreement.

"Well I can still hope for the best." I said. We sat quietly for a while afterwards.

"Zelda." Rusl said, breaking the silence.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Take your mind off of Richard. He's still alive and kicking." He said. "We're going to get him out of there, so don't let it affect you."

"I won't." I said, knowing I was lying.

Richard was all I was able to think about. He had been trapped down in Spud's operating room for weeks now. All of the heavy machinery we had tried to break him out with had been nuked right before the Collective invaded, and so we had nothing more than a few hand drills. Cutting the power to the castle had been futile, because Spud had his own reactor. We couldn't just blow the door up without killing the three men inside. One of the engineers had been able to work up a way to blow a hole in the wall with exactly seven Hellfire missiles fired from outside the castle, but he had had to make a lot of assumptions in his math without access to the blueprints, and I wasn't willing to take that chance unless those men were in immediate danger.

 _Thinking about blowing up part of my own castle._ I thought to myself, shaking my head. The idea was ludicrous.

In a minute decision, I stood up and wrapped up in my thick cloak.

"I'm going to go check on Malon, if one of you wouldn't mind coming with me." I said. Sword stood up and followed me out the door without a word.

It was more difficult to pass through the streets unnoticed in the evening twilight, but I made it work. My hood covered up my face well enough that even guards who worked in the castle didn't recognize me. The medical center at 42nd and Central was a bustling hub of activity, so it took me over half an hour to get there unnoticed. Once inside, I checked the logbook to find Malon's room. I glanced at the summary of medical treatments.

 _Administered dihydromorphinone  
Administered cementing biofluid to broken rib  
Administered blood transfusion – 2xType E  
Administered burn cream_

I already knew Malon would be out cold if she had been given dihydromorphinone. It was the strongest pain killer the doctors had access to. When I walked in the room, I saw that Link had wasted no time passing out next to her. He didn't stir at the sound of the door closing, his face reflecting how tired he had been.

He had his hand wrapped around Malon's, causing me to pause.

"Is there… something between them?" I asked Sword quietly.

"I don't know." She replied simply.

It could have been a relationship developed out of desperation for social contact with someone else, but I doubted it. They seemed like kindred spirits in a certain enviable way. Even though he was asleep I could feel Link's concern permeating the air around him. It even seeped into his magical aura.

I was concerned that I could have been invading a private moment past this point, but Link was out so hard that it didn't seem to matter. The last week must have been extremely tiring for him, whether or not he showed obvious signs of it. Allowing him several days of rest was probably the best decision Impa could have made.

For a brief moment, I envied the connection between these two hardened warriors. I cared about Richard, but it wasn't in the organic way that Link seemed to care for Malon. Richard was someone for me to have around for sex and emotional support, but never as a serious significant other. I probably loved him in my own way, but it wasn't like the organic connection these two had. It was possible that there wasn't anything actually going on between them yet, but I could see the potential for it. They just hadn't known each other long enough.

For now, I sat down in the extra chair and watched over the room, giving two of Hyrule's strongest warriors a chance to relax. I would wait until they woke up before taking my leave, if nothing else but to ensure that they were safe.

A strange feeling of sorrow rose up from my gut, but I forced it down.

 _This is the destiny assigned to you by your station in life._ I told myself. _There's no room to think about those things._

And so I waited.

…

 **So apparently you can't review a chapter twice even if I deleted the original. No worries if you can't review. I'm hoping to pump out the rest of the edit in the next month, but that may be a pretty lofty goal. It really just depends on my mood.**

 **Summary of edits**

 **Zelda is no longer trained as Sheik. I think I mentioned that a few chapters back.**

 **No spontaneous kiss before Link and Malon attack the Collective company. I'm building their relationship a little slower this time around.**


	9. Part 1 Chapter 9

**Old readers, this one might be worth a reread. I significantly changed almost everything, although the end result is the same. That being said, Sword's true identity is revealed if you hadn't already figured it out. As before, scroll to the bottom for a short summary of what I changed.**

Chapter 9

Malon

I woke up in a panic, nearly punching the figure hunched over my bed. I realized it was Link just in time, stopping the bone-crushing right hook that had been aimed at his face. That would have been quite the nasty wakeup call for him.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Usually waking up with a man hunched over my bed ended up as a really bad situation. A quick glance out the window told me that it was the middle of the night, which meant I had been out for a while. My rib felt fine, though, which was nice. The burns on my right side weren't as painful as they had been the day before, but I couldn't see them underneath the loose-fitting robe I had been put in after my treatment.

I tried to shift, but realized that Link was lying on top of my left arm.

 _He's heavy._ I thought to myself, trying to discreetly pull myself from underneath him. My arm was completely asleep, which made that a difficult task. Eventually I realized that his hand was firmly wrapped around mine.

"Link." I said, shaking him a little. He jumped up, blinking rapidly.

"Sorry." He said, obviously still not sure what was going on.

I laughed to myself, relieved that it didn't hurt my previously broken rib. Much to my chagrin, Link simply leaned back in his chair and fell asleep again. He was obviously extremely tired. It could have been the training he had been going through, but I had my theory that taking the lives of others took more of a toll on him than it did me. I had seen the official record he thought I didn't have access to. He had over four hundred confirmed kills to his name, and hundreds more unconfirmed. That wasn't even counting the tens of thousands of Collective sailors on the Deceit of Kings, or the entire company we had just killed. Most of those confirmed kills had come from ground-based combat.

For whatever reason, killing enemies didn't bother me. I had struggled with that fact for years, wondering if that indifference made me a monster. I hadn't even had the standard first-battle-freak out. The first time I had pulled a trigger and watched a man drop several hundred meters away, I didn't feel the slightest twinge of remorse. I still remembered that Collective soldier in vivid detail, but I never regretted taking his life.

Link was different. He was more compassionate than me, but not in a way that prevented him from doing his job. It just made him tired. He was more of a pacifist.

 _He'd be an excellent politician._ I thought to myself. If anyone were to speak out against war, Link would be the first. He had seen the worst mankind had to offer, and had survived twice as many battles as most career soldiers ever saw.

I thought back to our time on the edge of the Lost Woods. I hadn't had time to reflect on it because of the situation, but now I was confined to my own mind.

I couldn't figure Link out. Sometimes he was joking around, and other times he'd say something that would melt a girl's heart. Oftentimes he was stone-faced and emotionally neutral, but occasionally I would catch an errant look in my direction or a kind gesture.

 _Does he actually care about me like that?_ I wondered.

It was obvious that he did, now that I thought about it.

More importantly, how did I feel about it? It had only been a year and a half since I lost Oni. Was I ready to move on from that?

As much as Link resembled Oni, they were nothing alike. Oni had been an excellent soldier, but was rash and hotheaded. Link, on the other hand, was calm and collected at all times. Oni was boisterous, but Link was a quiet professional.

 _Is this even the right time to be thinking about this kind of stuff?_ I wondered. Hyrule was collapsing around us, and we needed our minds in the fight.

I knew that Oni would want me to move on, though. He would be sick if he had seen the depression I had slipped into after his death, and I could imagine exactly what he would say to me. I'd most certainly get a lecture on how my life needed to keep going, and that I couldn't sit around moping about something I'd never be able to change.

Link stirred slightly and slumped over in his seat. He wasn't a graceful sleeper, but I appreciated the fact that he had been with me this whole time. I couldn't ask for better dedication.

 _What does he see in me?_ I wondered. _Why me?_

I certainly wasn't the nicest person he'd ever met. At best, I was too rough around the edges for most men. More so for soldiers and sailors who typically wanted a woman who was more… womanly? Typically, men couldn't handle my jaded outlook on life or my gruesome stories about deployments. I wasn't the type of girl that would sit quietly at home all day raising children and cleaning the house. Link didn't seem overly bothered by this fact. He almost seemed to like it.

But then again, he wasn't exactly a typical man. Most women were probably intimidated by him, and he certainly couldn't have held a steady girlfriend during his time in the Navy. The sniper's lifestyle was one of hardship and sacrifice, and certainly wasn't amenable to a relationship during this time of constant war. Now that he was in the SSC, that wouldn't matter. If this war were to end, we would be able to go back to our normal lifestyle and do what we wanted.

That hinged on the war ending, though. We certainly couldn't let Castle Town fall if we planned on defeating the King's Collective.

I knew what I wanted, despite my reservations, so I made a minute decision to allow this to develop further. How fast that happened and how well it worked out would simply have to be left to fate.

…

Link

…

I woke only briefly to walk back to the SSC headquarters with Malon once she was released from the hospital, where I slept again for nearly an entire day. Nobody dared bother me, and the Collective didn't attack the city again. By the time I actually woke up, it felt like coming out of a short hibernation. I hadn't even bothered to take off my cloak before falling into bed.

Malon was curled up next to me on my bed, which was a little surprising. Her room was right next door, but I couldn't complain. I wasn't going to pretend I didn't enjoy it.

She must have felt me stirring, because she woke up immediately.

"Oh, sorry." She mumbled, rolling out of bed and standing up. It looked like all of her bandages had been removed, which was a relief. The trauma center had used over a quarter of their Type E blood stock to give Malon a transfusion, so I had been worried that her complications were more severe than what I had been aware of. Fortunately, she seemed to be doing all right.

"It's fine." I said, wishing she hadn't moved. "What's going on outside? Did anything change?"

"Not really." Malon said, groaning as she stretched out.

"Your rib is fine? You're not in pain?" I asked, concerned.

"Link, I'm okay." She replied.

"Good." I said. It took me a few seconds to motivate myself to get out of bed, but I eventually accepted that I couldn't sleep forever and forced myself up.

"I guess I should do what Impa told me to do." I said, and then remembered Malon hadn't been there for that conversation. "I have to go walk around to help boost morale. You want to go with me?"

"Not really, but I will if you promise we can go get some actual food. I'm tired of eating ration packs, and I hear that MediGoron's Stone Oven survived the EMP's because it's underground."

"Isn't that in the middle of the most-bombarded area of the city?" I asked curiously.

"If we die, at least it'll be with bellies full of pizza and glorious Hylian delicacies." Malon replied. "And it likely won't be overrun by civilians, since it's in a dangerous area."

I had to admit, it was tempting. I hadn't had a decent meal since I left for the Lost Woods.

"All right, let's do it." I said. "But don't tell Impa in case she lectures us about gluttony and irresponsibility."

I stepped into my TALOS armor, silently appreciating whoever had bothered to clean the inside. Once it closed around me, I threw my cloak around my shoulders and collapsed the helmet into its storage compartment. Lastly, I grabbed a handgun from my desk and attached it to my leg holster. Once I had stashed some extra magazines, I turned back to Malon.

"I guess your armor was ruined by the electrical attack." I said. "Do you have anything to protect yourself?"

"The armorers are working on my armor right now, and they're making new weapons to replace the ones we lost in the forest. It'll take a couple days, unfortunately." She replied. "For now, I've got my old TALOS I armor, although it's not quite as good as the Model III."

"I used the TALOS I for years." I said. "It'll work fine for a couple days. I can't even begin to tell you how much I put that thing through."

I looked over to the closet, where my bulky TALOS I armor was hanging on a stand. I had grown a strange attachment to it, despite how much lighter and stronger my TALOS III was. I had spent over two years wearing that last set, and it had saved my life on many different occasions.

I ran my fingers over the scrape in the TALOS III where I had blocked the bullet aimed at Zelda. The TALOS I wasn't the only armor that had saved my life.

"Hey, Link." Malon said softly. I turned around, surprised to find her standing right next to me. She was biting her lip nervously.

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

"I… I know I've said this already, but thank you for everything you did for me." She said. "I'd be dead without you."

"Come on, Malon." I started. "You know you'd have done the same thing for me. We were in that together. We're in everything together."

She was quiet for a few seconds, but then nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But you still stuck your neck out for me when a lot of other people would have started running." She said. "I'll never forget that. And look, I'm not the type of person to be subtle about things, so I'm just going to go for this."

I barely had time to react as she kissed me. It took me half a second to actually realize what was going on, but I didn't waste any time kissing her back afterwards. I lingered for a few moments, enjoying the feeling.

Eventually she pulled away, but I held her close for a few more seconds.

"What was that?" I asked, grinning sheepishly.

"Do I really need to explain?" She asked.

"No, I guess not."

"Good. Now let's go eat pizza."

…

We spent the next several hours eating delicious food and walking around the city, talking to soldiers as we did so. Most of them recognized me immediately, which was slightly less distressing than I had thought it would be. If my presence would help the morale of the city's defenders, I was happy to help.

Days passed, and the Collective never came back to attack Castle Town. Buildings weren't being rebuilt yet, but parts of the city had electricity again. On the third day after I got back from the Lost Woods, the Rangers managed to connect with the Hylian Navy from the northern relay station. They had moved to a location less than one light year from Castle, and were waiting for the ground assault to start.

The ground assault was going to be an issue. Castle's military forces were spread all over the planet due to the botched plan to trap the Collective and ambush them across the planet. They were being retrieved, but the Air Force was very limited on functioning aircraft. It would take several weeks to get all the troops back to Castle Town unless serious advances were made in the rate at which electrical system damages could be repaired.

I stared up at the bombarded castle, wondering if this war would ever end. Earlier in the day, one of the skyscrapers nearby had collapsed under the stress caused by its near-destruction by a Collective bomb. Fortunately the area had already been evacuated due to the danger and nobody had been killed. The collapse threatened to lower morale again, though. It was a visible symbol of the destruction the Collective had caused.

It made me angry.

This war was senseless. Arnav Nohansen knew that his claim to the throne wasn't legitimate, but he had created a movement to overthrow Zelda and place himself in charge. The result was millions of deaths over the past three years, with many more to come.

The Hylian Empire was lucky to have a selfless monarch like Zelda. She had flaws just like the rest of us, but she did a much better job than the vast majority of Hyrule's leaders before her. The thought that Arnav Nohansen wanted to overthrow her for his own personal gains made my blood boil. Under his rule, we would abandon the council and live in an autocracy.

I knew I would be called on to assassinate Arnav once his location was discovered, and that didn't bother me at all. He needed to die. Impa and Rauru were gathering intelligence on his location, and had already determined that he was on the planet. The desert seemed like the most likely place, since that was where the Collective troops had been driven back to. In a few minutes, I was supposed to meet with the head of Planetary Defense and discuss the topic, but I needed a breath of fresh air before I did that.

Castle's northern hemisphere was now entering the most brutal part of its winter. It was so cold now that I could spit and my saliva would freeze before it hit the ground. This was a trait Castle was known for galaxy-wide. Winter always settled in quickly, and snow stayed on the ground for at least several months except at the equator. Unfortunately, Castle Town wasn't anywhere near the equator.

The door to the SSC living quarters creaked open and Sword emerged. I didn't have to turn around to know it was her, because only she could move around so silently.

"Do you think this war will ever end?" I asked her quietly.

"Yes."

I sighed, having forgotten that she didn't provide much commentary.

"You must have a lot more optimism than I do." I said. "Sometimes it feels like this is what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life."

A few moments passed before Sword said anything.

"Impa wants you inside."

I turned and walked in the door immediately. Ralph, the Planetary Defense Director, was sitting at the table across from Zelda and Impa. They all looked up at me as I entered.

"Remember how I said you would be taking care of Arnav Nohansen when he was found?" Zelda asked me. I nodded.

"Has he been found?" I asked.

"Yes, he has. We think."

Ralph handed me a tablet with a detailed map of the Gerudo Desert. The Arbiter's Grounds were marked heavily, and I could see troop placements and movements around the area.

"We've got Naval Intelligence scanning the area." He said. "This is about twenty minutes behind real time. The observation craft can't get any closer to the Collective blockade without being detected, but it should give you a good idea of what you're up against."

"And you're certain that Arnav is here? If I were him, I would be somewhere else." I said.

"The Arbiter's Grounds are visible from the mountains to the north of the desert. I set up long-range observations there, and we've managed to intercept enough of their transmissions to confirm his presence. Furthermore, we have a mole that told us three days ago that he arrived." Ralph replied.

"Can you trust your mole?" I asked.

"She's one of the best, but we waited until we decrypted their radio transmissions to confirm her information."

"She's also…" Zelda started, glancing over at Impa. "She's also Bo's daughter, so you need to get her out of there. Preferably before you assassinate Arnav."

"That's a lot for one person to do." I said, concerned.

"I'm letting you take a team of your choosing." Impa said. "You can take as many or as few as you think you need to get the job done. All that I care about is that the job does, in fact, get done. I'm sure you realize how crucial this is, and that millions of deaths can be prevented if you're successful."

"Of course." I said. "So this is all the information you have? Just twenty minute behind surveillance and double confirmation that Arnav is actually there?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Ralph said. "I wish I had more for you, but that's why I'm here. The SSC is a collection of the most skilled soldiers in the military, and I didn't know who else to turn to. Not even the Rangers could handle this one."

"Yeah, I know." I replied, fully aware of that fact. "This isn't their specialty, anyways. You came to the right person for this. This isn't a mission that can be accomplished by a fast, violent raid. It needs stealth and precision."

"Do you know who you're going to take?" Impa asked.

I turned to Sword.

"You in?"

She nodded. I had already known she would.

"I'm also taking Malon." I said. "Three people should be the perfect size to slip past their defenses and sneak in undetected. We'll have to conduct reconnaissance when we get there, so this mission could take a while."

"I'm aware. Are you sure bringing Malon along is the wisest decision?" Impa asked. "If she's captured, she could be used to draw you out."

I stared at Impa for a few silent moments, not bothering to ask how much she knew about my budding relationship with Malon. It was obviously enough that she felt it was worth mentioning.

"Didn't you say the team I take is entirely at my discretion?" I asked.

"I did. I am merely questioning why you wouldn't take someone more adept at stealth and desert operations. Someone that couldn't necessarily be used against you. Like Nabooru, for example." Impa said.

 _How much does this lady know?_

Nabooru would have been the perfect candidate, but I didn't trust her for various reasons. I had been feeding information about her to another military unit, but nobody in the SSC should have been aware of that. The last thing I was going to do was bring a potential spy on one of the most important missions the SSC had ever undertaken.

I spared no time thinking about the fact that I was, in fact, the spy. Albeit for much more benign motivations than what Nabooru was potentially up to.

"Malon is the best pilot in the Hylian military, and we're going to need an efficient escape." I explained, hoping that Impa's questioning was only a cursory probing of potential holes in my plan.

"You plan on flying in there?" Ralph asked curiously.

"Only to a certain point." I replied. "Obviously we'll have to dismount and work past their defenses. I need more time to come up with a solid plan, though."

"Very well. If this is what you want to do, I will allow it." Impa said. "Bring the plan to me as soon as you have it."

I nodded, and then led Sword downstairs to find Malon.

I had been waiting for this moment.

…

It took several long nights and even longer days to develop a basic plan for a stealth attack on the Arbiter's Grounds. I had examined all of our potential assets, and the best I could come up with was a simple distraction. Impa wasn't going to like it, and Zelda would probably viciously oppose it.

In fact, Zelda was in the process of viciously opposing it.

"You want to do _what_?!" She demanded, looking at me like I was crazy.

"Your majesty, this isn't the time for that." I said. "This is the best way to cause a major distraction."

"You can't seriously think that dropping a MAC round into the atmosphere is anything but a pyrrhic victory. And just to cause a distraction? I would understand if we were talking about taking out a massive enemy force, but an outpost? Seriously? That's never been done before, and the results are likely going to be catastrophic." She said.

MAC rounds were barely out of the prototype phase. Several of them had been mounted on Naval destroyers in the last decade. As far as had been recorded, MAC cannons had only been used in eight major engagements, but they had all been at long ranges in space. Every MAC round fired had annihilated its target save for one. The Deceit of Kings, which I had been responsible for destroying, gained its notoriety by taking a MAC hit and still being able to escape. The actual projectile weighed 3,000 tons and traveled at over 12,000 kilometers per second.

Needless to say, it would cause massive destruction in the atmosphere. That was the point.

The Collective had set up a combat outpost in the mountains separating the Gerudo Desert from Hyrule Field and Lake Hylia. Its purpose was to prevent a Hylian attack through the maze of canyon paths, as well as provide an escape route for the remainder of the Collective artillery stationed in Lake Hylia's basin.

The plan was to slip a Naval destroyer into orbit and drop a MAC round right on top of that outpost. Hylian destroyers had the capability to jump into an area and jump again less than a minute later. The destroyer would immediately jump back to the fleet, where any Collective pursuers would be obliterated.

Malon would fly us into the mountains to the north of the Arbiter's Grounds, which were about fifty kilometers away from the structure. Patrols covered a 30 kilometer area around the grounds, but had a recognizable daily pattern. The patterns changed every night, but they were pretty basic and I had a theory that they were on three separate rotations that changed at 3AM. I'd be able to confirm that tonight.

We could cover 50 kilometers in a day easily. Thermal imaging wasn't a problem due to the hot sand in the desert and our TALOS suits, and we would arrive just after twilight when visibility was poor. The TALOS suit batteries could maintain optical camouflage for several hours, so being spotted wasn't much of a problem. In fact, there were only two real problems that I had identified with this mission.

The first was actually finding Arnav Nohansen. I had never visited the Arbiter's Grounds, but from what maps were available I could tell it was a large structure. I only had limited intelligence on what was going on inside, and even what was happening on top of the building due to unexplainable interference.

The second problem was the escape. Even if I could kill Arnav, getting out wasn't a guarantee. We had no solid plans for that, but the best route would probably be the exact same one we came in on. If we could evade the patrols, it would be simple to board the gunship and leave the desert. The alternative was to slip on a Collective helicopter before it left the area, but that would be an opportunity-based escape. It wasn't something I wanted to rely on.

Convincing Zelda could become a problem, too.

"Can't we just drop a bomb on the outpost?" She asked.

"There's no air assets available to do that." Malon said. "I already checked with the Air Force and it's impossible to get that close with the bombers we have available. They'd get shot down in a heartbeat. Plus, a bomb wouldn't cause the kind of devastation needed to distract the Collective forces at the Arbiter's Grounds."

"I have to admit, I like this plan." Ralph said. "It's bold. It looks like we're mounting a major offensive against the Collective, and that's what they'll be preparing for. If they were to drop a MAC round outside of Castle Town and try this exact same plan on us, it might actually work. We would be so focused on repelling a massive assault force that we'd leave cracks in the city's defenses."

"They wouldn't have a chance in hell of getting the queen." I said. "But I digress. Ralph is right. This is the best way to catch the Collective off guard, strike at its leadership, and then follow up with a major assault."

"I agree. I think we could have the Hylian Army at full fighting strength within a week." Ralph said. "If Link is successful, it would be prudent to attack the Collective while they're in disarray."

Zelda sighed.

"I hate this, but it's a good plan." She said. "I just wish it didn't involve flinging a MAC round into a national park and potentially destroying our only ground access to the Collective troops."

"On the other hand, destroying the canyon paths forces the Collective to invade through the air." Ralph said. "I'm sure you're aware of how superior our anti-air is to their Air Force, since we already held Castle Town through their initial aerial assault."

"But how will we get our ground troops through the canyon?" Zelda asked. I was curious that she was so involved in the decision-making process, but I supposed it was appropriate as long as she didn't actively inhibit military operations for political purposes.

"It may involve scaling the collapsed areas and a lot of medium-range fighting." Ralph said. "But I'm certain we can win in such a direct confrontation. The Hylian Army is trained for that kind of combat. Something to bear in mind is that Arnav Nohansen may pull a lot of his forces back into the Arbiter's Grounds, since he knows we won't bomb that place. We'll need to come up with another plan if he does that."

"I don't think he will." Impa said, chiming in. "He hasn't shown any indication of running from fights in the past."

"That's true, but it's a possibility." Ralph said.

"Do we have your approval?" I asked Zelda, hoping that she wouldn't turn me down. Because of the nature of the mission, the approval had to come directly from her. It was entirely her decision as the commander of Hyrule's military forces.

She sighed.

"I hate this, but I have to approve it." She admitted. "I don't have another choice, because the alternative is to let Arnav live. The _only_ reason I'm letting you do this is because it's you, and I know you'll get the job done. If I'm going to drop a MAC round on the canyons, failure isn't an option. I can't even begin to imagine how upset the Zoras are going to be about this, since they access Lake Hylia through those canyons."

"We can rebuild the infrastructure." Ralph said. "The Collective will just kill them all, so this is really the better alternative."

"Shouldn't we at least warn them?" Zelda asked.

"The integrity of the mission could be compromised. The Zoras have mostly stayed out of this conflict over the past week, so we don't know where they stand." Ralph said.

"Somehow I'm thinking they stand with us." Zelda said. "The Zoras have been close allies of the Royal Family since ancient times. They even fought on our side in the Unification War."

"They will understand." I said. "Thousands of years of friendship and cooperation won't end because some nearby canyons got obliterated by a MAC round during a time of war."

"Especially if we go fix the destruction once the war is over." Impa said, agreeing.

"Very well." Zelda said. "Go get this done."

I nodded and turned to walk out the door.

"Link." Zelda said, stopping me. I looked back at her.

"Yes?"

"Don't fail me."

I nodded and left the room.

…

It took several more days for logistical information to get passed down and for the mission to get properly organized, but soon I found myself on one of the few remaining Hylian gunships headed northwest. It would take about three hours to reach our landing site in the mountains to the north of the desert, but I wasn't focused on that.

For the first time in a while, I was nervous.

Malon was, too. It wasn't hard to tell. She hadn't spoken for most of the flight, and her hands were twitching nervously on the flight controls. This was the biggest mission any of us had ever been on.

Sword, on the other hand, was as stoic as ever. If she was showing emotions, I definitely couldn't tell underneath her blacked-out helmet.

 _Who is she, anyways?_ I wondered. Most of what I had heard about her was secondhand information, and only Impa was privy to her personnel file. As for her demeanor, Sword hardly ever spoke to me, and only minimally whenever she did. I didn't take it personally, but it seemed like she didn't like me. I knew she was indispensable on this mission, though, which was why I had chosen her.

I sorted through a few displays in my helmet and switched my armor's color scheme to a tan, sandy desert pattern. The armor would make minor adjustments on its own based on my surroundings, but I had to set a similar pattern to the environment. Fortunately the desert didn't have a whole lot of variation.

We flew low through the mountains, finally landing at a tiny Hylian Army listening post. I couldn't see it from the air, but a soldier came out of cover and flagged us down. Once we touched down, I could see that a digital hologram was being projected over the top of the small camp, perfectly matching the snow-covered foliage on the side of the mountain.

It was interesting to me how quickly the environment changed. The other side of the mountain was the hottest, driest place on the planet. This side of the mountain, as well as the rest of the range to the north, was characterized by its constant precipitation and well-defined seasons. This drastic difference was caused by the mountains casting a "rain shadow" on the lands to the south, causing the moist air coming in from the coast to dump all its moisture as it climbed over the peaks. By the time that air reached the desert, it was completely dry. Because the Gerudo Desert was surrounded by mountains on all sides, it didn't receive moisture from any direction.

It was a strange place for the Collective to hole up. I couldn't figure out what tactical advantage the desert offered as opposed to Zora's Domain or practically any other location on Castle, so there had to be some unknown reason that was important enough to justify the lack of natural resources. The ragtag Castle Town defense certainly hadn't had the strength to force the Collective back into the desert, which meant they were there intentionally.

Whatever their plan was, I was going to ruin it.

I closed my helmet visor and stepped out of the gunship, looking around the listening post. It wasn't much, if anything just because the nature of the mission. Intercepting Collective transmissions was risky business, and the post had to remain completely concealed. That they had let us land the gunship here so readily was surprising to me, but it was the best place to hide it.

A Zora soldier met me at the edge of the makeshift landing pad, saluting as I approached. He was obviously the commander of the small force there.

"Easy there, I'm not an officer. I just wear fancy armor." I said, waving him off. "What's the story on the Collective? Anything I need to know?"

"Nothing that we haven't reported." The soldier replied. "Whatever you guys are doing in the desert, you need to be careful. There's close to a quarter-million Collective troops camped out around the Arbiter's Grounds starting at about fifteen kilometers out in all directions."

"Yeah, I've seen the maps." I said, opening my tablet to check the patrols. "That may help, honestly. Cramped soldiers get lazy. They stop looking for threats once you make it past their outer line."

"Our recon team has slipped by the outer line several times, but they never got close enough to the Arbiter's Grounds to get a good look at what's going on there." The soldier said.

Malon and Sword walked up behind me, so I decided to cut the conversation short.

"We're not going to waste any time." I said to the Zora. "Just be ready to close up shop at a moment's notice. If we don't come back this way in the next few days, feel free to take the gunship and use it for whatever you need. We won't be sending status updates, so don't expect any."

The commander nodded.

"I don't know what you three are doing in there, but it must be important." He said. "Hell, I don't even know who you guys are. But good luck. I hope whatever you're doing in there will end this war."

"I do, too." I said, nodding.

I motioned to Malon and Sword, and we took off at a steady run up the face of the mountain. I carried a handgun on each leg and my Supernova compacted and attached to the small of my back. I had the Master Sword, as well, but I certainly didn't plan on using it unless I absolutely had to. I had only just enough ammo for three reloads with each weapon, since this was supposed to be a stealth mission. If I needed any more than what I had, I would probably get killed anyways. Malon carried her standard semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, and Sword carried only her katana.

Arnav Nohansen was a master of close combat, so our plan was to get just close enough to shoot him. Failing that, Sword would take over and close with him while Malon and I covered her from outside fire. Of course, this plan could change at any moment due to unforeseen circumstances, but we couldn't plan for what we didn't know. I switched on the particle entanglement radio that connected our three TALOS suits.

"It's really a shame we can't just drop the MAC round on this place." I said. "You'd think the loss of a historical structure would be worth it to kill a quarter-million Collective troops."

"Unfortunately they're all still Hylian citizens under the law." Malon said. "And besides, a MAC round wouldn't blow up a 15-mile radius around the impact site. It's not made for that."

"A nuke would." I said.

"Nukes that are illegal to use in the atmosphere and are under a deranged AI's control?"

"…good point."

Several minutes later, we reached a ridge near the top of the mountain. Once I crossed over it, I stopped for a moment to admire the view. The Gerudo Desert stretched out endlessly before us, its surface lined with a sea of dunes. The view continued unobstructed all the way to the horizon, where I could see the edges of the Collective camps. Over the horizon, the pillars of the Arbiter's Grounds rose high above the sand, barely visible through the heat mirages.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

Malon and Sword nodded.

 _Here goes nothing._

…

Zelda

…

I paced around my room impatiently, only kept in place by Rusl's assurances that my presence would only hinder progress.

The mages had found a way to temporarily subdue Spud, and were working on getting Richard and his two technicians out. They had been trapped for over three weeks now.

Three weeks locked in an AI core only slightly larger than the average bedroom.

I was worried, because I didn't know if this would actually work. Furthermore, the primary objective was to regain control of the nukes and the infrastructure. Richard and his two technicians were secondary to that. As much as my brain tried to convince me that that was how it should have been, my heart said differently. I felt guilty because I didn't care much about anything besides getting Richard out of there.

This was also both good and bad timing. A Navy destroyer was waiting several light-minutes away to jump into orbit and drop a MAC round on the Collective outpost. All they needed was Link's approval, which wouldn't come through Castle Town. I had no idea when that would happen, but the Army was mobilizing a full-scale invasion force that would take off from the city the moment that MAC round hit. The officers had been told the plans, but knew nothing about the explosion that was about to happen. Ralph would order them to initiate the assault afterwards.

Once again, I found myself in the precarious position of being unable to do anything helpful. I had to trust that both Link and Ralph would be successful, despite the odds. The Army's assault was sketchy, at best. We had half the numbers of the Collective, and were counting purely on the shock-and-awe of the MAC round. Furthermore, we were also counting on Arnav not ordering his Navy to shell Castle Town from orbit.

The idea was that he wanted to take the city, not completely destroy it. I could only hope that was true.

Link, Malon, and Sword were up against a quarter-million Collective soldiers, but I knew they were stealthy enough to get the mission done or, at the very least, escape safely. Knowing them, they wouldn't leave until Arnav was lying in a pool of his own blood.

"News." Rusl said, looking down at my tablet. "Spud has been deactivated and all three of your guys are out of the core. Control of all functions has been returned to separate AI's, and the nukes are now in manual control. Your control, to be specific."

I let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Goddesses, that's the best news I've had in months."

"Unexpected good news is always the best kind." Rusl said. "Now let's hope the operations run smoothly today. I'll have Rauru find out when you can go see Richard in the hospital, but for now you should focus on the impending battle."

"I'm aware." I said.

I opened the door to the balcony, walking around the side of the spire to face the west. I needed a breath of fresh air.

"Now we wait for the MAC round, right?" I asked. Naturally, Rusl was right next to me.

"Yes, although you probably shouldn't be out here. People might see you."

"What does it matter at this point?" I asked. "If we fail to drive the Collective away in the next few days, we're going to have some serious issues. Hyrule may actually fall."

"Somehow I doubt that." Rusl argued. "Keep in mind we have the entire Navy waiting to end this blockade. They're going to attack once we make contact with the ground troops. I think this is an excellent plan that's likely to succeed."

"It is, but the Collective may have reserves." I said. "That's the problem. We don't know enough. I don't know how sympathetic the rest of the galaxy is to their cause, either. You can cite polling all you want, but I don't put my faith in that."

"I can tell you from firsthand experience that the people on Faron and Cutov hate the Collective." Rusl said. "All of the outer colonies are fairly neutral, since nothing happening in the Inner Three actually affects them. Most of the Hylians outside of Castle, Faron, and Cutov are just researchers and explorers, anyways."

"Of course. I'm not worried about the outer colonies." I said. "They're independently governed, which was the best decision I've ever made in my own humble opinion."

"It certainly reduced your workload."

"What I'm worried about is Cutov." I continued. "The Gerudo have always been unruly, and then you've got Eta Ali working from there. What if the Collective were to join forces with them? For the sake of the goddesses, we can't even find a single member. I'd authorize every form of torture possible, if only one of them would make a mistake and get captured."

"Those hyper-religious nuts?" Rusl asked curiously. "Do you really think they're that much of a threat?"

"Cults of Gerudo women scare me." I said. "And for how big this one is, it scares me even more. You know that Koholint Island on Faron was wiped out by Eta Ali, right?"

"So Link…?"

"Exactly. And Richard." I said.

"And… Sword." Rusl admitted. "I had no idea that they were the ones who did that. I mean, I'd heard rumors but I never imagined what a religious cult on Cutov would want with a small island on Faron."

"Sword is from Koholint?" I asked curiously.

"She's… I've said too much." Rusl said, shaking his head. "I'm not supposed to know that. Impa accidentally sent me her personnel file instead of Rauru. By the time she got into my room to tell me to delete it, I had already read the entire thing."

I stared at him for a moment.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Zelda, you know I shouldn't talk about this."

"Who is she?"

"I can't-"

"Tell me."

He sighed.

"Her name is Saria. Like Link and Richard, her entire extended family was killed in the Koholint Massacre, but she had joined the Army three years before." He said. "She's slightly older than Link, but I think they knew each other. She definitely knew him."

"She said something about him when he was nominated for the Hero of Hyrule Medal." I said, thinking back several months. "Or maybe it was when he was recruited into the SSC. I didn't think much of her comment at the time, but I guess I should have put the pieces together. Why does she keep her face hidden all the time?"

"From what I can tell, she's just a very secretive person." Rusl replied. "I've never seen her face, but she could have bad scarring or any number of issues. Or maybe she just doesn't want people to see her. Sometimes the best warriors are weirdos. I've seen her fight with that katana, though, and it's chilling. From twenty meters away, she could reach me and cut my head off before I was able to draw a handgun and get a single shot on target."

I had never seen her fight, so I would just have to take him at his word.

We sat in silence for a while, looking over the half-ruined city. It was hard to believe that just a month ago this had been the pinnacle of Hylian society. Castle Town hadn't been attacked directly by an enemy in centuries, but here I was standing over the crumbling memories of thousands of dead civilians. It infuriated me that the Collective had attacked an occupied city knowing full well that they would kill more civilians than military. There were ethics in war that even the most barbaric enemies didn't violate.

Arnav would pay for this with his life.

I jumped as the sky lit up in the west, and a massive shock wave rippled over the horizon. It looked like the entire canyon had been uprooted and thrown into the sky. Several minutes later, the sound reached Castle Town, shattering windows and knocking down the remains of burnt houses.

Once the rumbling had passed, I took my hands off my ears and looked up. The entire sky to the west was filled with dust. A prerecorded message was playing from the speakers in the city below.

"Citizens of Castle Town." I heard my voice echoing through the city. "With this, we have begun our offensive against the Collective. Please remain calm and stay in your homes. All able-bodied men, please report to the castle to help defend the city in the Army's absence."

The message repeated several times, succeeding in preventing total panic within the city. The main purpose was to inform the city that this explosion was our doing, not the Collective's.

"And now we wait." I said, looking down at the Army gathered at the western gate. They were already starting to file out into Hyrule Field.

 _Godspeed, Link._

…

Link

Five minutes earlier

…

I zoomed in on the Collective defensive line, nearly laughing.

"That's pathetic." Malon said.

A machinegun nest was placed every three hundred meters along the border of the camp, but half the guards were asleep. I couldn't blame them, since they were out in the middle of the desert staring at nothing all day. Even I would have fallen into the trap of melancholy if I were in their positions, but it was about to become a fatal mistake.

"I almost feel bad dropping a MAC round." I said. "We could easily slip past this line without the distraction."

"The Army needs to get past that outpost, anyways." Malon replied. "Best thing to do is just destroy it and fight in the rubble where the Collective's numbers won't matter so much."

"I'm going to go ahead and call it up." I said.

My suit's communicator took several minute to connect with the Navy destroyer hovering ten million kilometers away from Castle, but I was able to speak with them instantly when it did rather than waiting for the message to traverse the massive distance.

"This is Hylian Navy destroyer CAS Courage. Identify yourself."

"Corporal Link White, Hylian Special Services Corps. ID one-six-nine, zero-eight-one-six-six-three. Begin Operation Sky Fury."

I thought it was a rather appropriate operation name, even though Zelda had called it stupid.

"Biometrics confirmed. Beginning Sky Fury."

The line cut, and I waited. All three of us were ready to run through the Collective's outer perimeter at a moment's notice. It would still be a long trip to the Arbiter's Grounds, but I wasn't expecting much trouble. My suit's batteries were fully charged, and would continue to charge as long as the sun was shining, so my optical camouflage would work for several hours after I entered the Arbiter's Grounds. Once night set, I didn't necessarily need to be invisible to survive, anyways.

"Ten seconds."

 _That was quick._

"Go invisible." I said to Malon and Sword. We all activated our optical camouflage, disappearing from view. The only sign of our presence was the marks we left in the sand, although my TALOS suit showed me near-perfect images of my teammates when I looked at them.

I didn't have to stare into the sunset to wonder when the MAC round was fired. The entire sky lit up as the massive projectile rocketed towards the surface, and I could feel the moment it hit the outpost.

"Let's go."

Malon, Sword, and I stood up and began a full sprint towards the Collective perimeter. The guards were thoroughly distracted, and the entire camp had exploded in a panic behind them. Conveniently, one of the machine gun crews completely abandoned their post right in front of us. Wordlessly, all three of us aimed towards the empty nest, crossing into the camp without incidence.

Once we moved behind several tents, I initiated the next phase of the mission.

"Phase 2. Switch colors."

We turned off our optical camouflage, setting our armor color scheme to look exactly like the Collective's standard-issue red and white armor. I was hoping that this was less conspicuous, since three sets of footprints appearing in the sand was likely to draw some sort of unwanted attention. Sometimes the best place to hide was in plain sight.

We continued running, and I was quickly proven right. We didn't even get a second glance from the panicked Collective soldiers. The camp's air raid sirens went off, further adding to the confusion.

 _Goddesses, this couldn't have worked out any better._

We covered the ten kilometers to the inner perimeter fairly quickly and without incident. After 45 minutes the Collective troops had mostly calmed down, but we still weren't given any afterthought as we ran by. Once I could see the next perimeter, I slipped behind the last line of tents.

"Phase 3, go invisible."

We switched our optical camouflage back on and stepped on the hastily-made asphalt road leading into the Arbiter's Grounds. The chain link fence blocking the camp from the Grounds could have been easily scaled, but I didn't want to leave footprints in the sand. The gate guard was hardly paying attention as he checked the credentials on a truck driver, and was easy to slip past.

My plan was divided into nine phases. The next would begin once we reached the Arbiter's Grounds, and end once we found the informant, Ilia. The next ones covered finding Arnav, his assassination and our nighttime escape from the desert.

The Arbiter's Grounds loomed before us, towering high into the sky. The main building was several stories tall, preventing me from seeing what was happening on the top. Ralph had asked us to get up there and observe what was going on, if possible, but that wasn't my priority unless Arnav was also there.

As we got closer, I noticed that the Collective had altered the structure by adding more entrances and several hangar doors.

 _They must have been planned on being here for a while._

I headed towards the entrance that looked the least guarded and stopped outside the steel door. Several workers were welding hinges, and one armed guard was smoking a cigarette several meters away. When the door was opened, I slipped inside and made my way down a narrow hallway. Once I had made it far enough away from the workers, I stopped and waited on Sword and Malon to catch up. Once they had, we continued onwards.

My suit automatically mapped out the area as I passed through, creating an updated map over the one I had uploaded before the mission. This hallway hadn't been on the map, which meant the Collective had dug it out of the rock. Zelda would throw a fit if she knew they were destroying historical structures.

As I progressed further down the hallway, I began to hear conversations. Eventually I came around a corner into the main entrance hall, which was filled with tables.

 _They converted this into a dining area?_

Several hundred Collective soldiers and scientists were walking around or sitting down eating. It was easy enough to slip past them and to the northern wall, where several guards stood in front of a massive metal door. Red and white King's Collective banners hung beside it, almost drawing my attention away from the cameras mounted above.

"I'm guessing the command center is past this door." I said to Malon and Sword. "I don't know what kind of technology they've got, so they might be able to detect us. These cameras up here could be able to see us, for all I know. Remember the rendezvous point if we have to split up."

Two green acknowledgement lights appeared on my visor, so I moved next to one of the guards and waited. Soon enough, an older scientist finished his dinner and walked up to the door to be admitted into the controlled area. The guard waved him off.

"I know you, Dr. Borville." He said. "How's everything going upstairs?"

"It's… frustrating." The old doctor said. "Progress is slow, but Lord Nohansen needs results soon. You know how these things are. Has anything been said about what happened to the east? I'm hearing rumors of a nuclear bomb, but I know better."

"Honestly, I don't know." The guard said. "I'm sure we'll be told as soon as possible."

Dr. Borville nodded and passed through the door as the guards opened it, unaware that he was followed by three Hylian soldiers.

We made our way up a long, circular flight of stairs and into a large chamber directly above the dining hall. This was clearly the command center. It was filled with a myriad of communication and strategic planning equipment, which was operated by several thousand Collective officers. While the chaos may have died down outside, this room was buzzing with activity.

"Ilia is in here somewhere." I said through the microphone, stepping into a dark corner and turning on my facial recognition scanner.

I didn't get any pings, so we moved down the wall to the left where there was a clear line of sight into the communications pit. Once again, there was nothing.

"Malon, split off and look for her." I said, deciding to fall back to our backup plan. "Sword and I will enter phase 4 now. Send confirmation when you find Ilia and are heading back to the rendezvous point."

Malon's acknowledgement light appeared in my visor, so I took Sword and worked my way through the room. At the back end, a stage with a projected map of Hyrule overlooked the room. The desert and the entire area south of Castle Town was highlighted red, whereas Castle Town and Zora's Domain were covered in blue.

 _Controlled areas._ I realized.

There were several flashing X's on the projection, with a massive one placed over the canyons in between the desert and Hyrule Field. Several video feeds were being projected next to the map, but the dust still hadn't settled from the impact site. There wouldn't be anything to see, anyways.

Sword and I slipped behind the projection after seeing a few officers run through an exit, which simply led to another set of stairs. The third floor was a maze of makeshift offices and living quarters for higher-ranked officers, but had a natural progression that I could follow.

I had a nagging feeling of dread, but I couldn't figure out why. Save for being unable to immediately find Ilia in the command center, everything had worked out smoothly to this point. Perhaps it was the impending challenge of killing Arnav and escaping, or the fact that Malon had had to split away and complete a separate mission. Although we had certainly planned for this possibility, I didn't like it.

Malon's voice came through the radio, broken up slightly by the thick rock walls of the Arbiter's Grounds.

"Link, I'm not seeing Ilia. I don't think she's in this room."

"Did someone actually pass along the instructions to continue her duties as normal?" I asked. "That's where she told Intel that she works. She even gave us a map to her location."

"I know, but she's not here." Malon said. "She may have gotten scared and tried to run away."

"That would be the equivalent of death no matter what happens." I replied.

"Or she was caught." Sword added quietly.

We all fell silent for a moment.

"Keep searching." I said. "If you don't find her by the time we find Arnav, she's on her own. This isn't our primary mission."

"Understood." Malon said, cutting the line.

I edged past a squad of soldiers and slipped into a dark staircase on the opposite side of the third floor. It led directly up, and had a closed door at the end. I could see the light of the desert shining through the cracks.

"This should be the roof." I said to Sword, looking back to ensure that the enemy squad hadn't noticed us. They hadn't, so I climbed the stairs and approached the door.

"He's here." Sword said.

"How do you know?" I asked, glancing over at her outline.

"I just know."

I checked the door for traps and, finding none, lifted the latch and pushed it open just a crack, but had to jump back immediately. There were two guards standing on the other side, and they had noticed the door opening.

"Get out of the way!" I heard from behind me.

Several Collective soldiers stormed up the stairs, dragging something behind them. I realized quickly that it was a person, and barely had room to press up against the wall and let the soldiers pass.

 _Oh shit._

They were dragging Ilia.

"Malon, get to us quick. They've got Ilia upstairs." I said, slipping through the door before it closed behind the group.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I wish." I said.

With a flick of my wrist, I switched my radio back to the long-range frequency, connecting with the Navy destroyer on standby for my contingency plans.

I climbed the stairs to the right of the door and found myself standing on top of the Arbiter's Grounds, but I didn't have time to examine it yet. I pointed my suit's GPS-linked laser several kilometers out to the south end of the camp.

"Naval Command, this is Ghost-one. Requesting space-to-ground mission, contingency Alpha-six on predetermined grid square eighteen. Lazing coordinates as a backup. How copy, over?"

It took a few seconds for the destroyer's communications officer to respond due to the distance.

"Solid copy, Ghost-one. Contingency Alpha-six initiated. Strike incoming. ETA 60 seconds."

It wasn't soon enough, but I'd have to make it work.

"Malon, get up here quick." I said through the radio. "The Navy is about to drop a few cluster bombs on the camp. I need you ready to…"

I froze as I turned and looked back at the roof of the Arbiter's Grounds. Nearly an entire company was securing the area, although they didn't seem to have seen me yet. The main thing that caught my eye, though, was Arnav Nohansen.

"Phase 5 initiated." I said through the radio. I heard Sword's katana whisper as it slid out of its sheath.

"Acknowledged." Malon said. "I'm on the third floor. Making my way to your position."

Arnav Nohansen was a brute of a man. He had to weigh over 250 pounds, but it was all muscle. His characteristic blonde hair and blue eyes were a clear indicator that he shared in the Royal Family's lineage. From everything I had heard, he was one of the best close-combat fighters Hyrule had ever seen, and nearly impossible to kill. Several attempts had been made on his life, but the man just wouldn't die. Nobody had lived to tell me why, so I would just have to do my best.

Behind him was a pitch-black piece of glass with intricate markings. It was mounted in a metal pedestal overlooking an enormous block of obsidian.

In front of him was Ilia, forced to her knees by a Collective soldier. She was badly beaten and bruised, and looked like she was barely clinging to life as it was.

"This is the Hylian mole, your majesty." The soldier said, bowing before Arnav. "She was hiding in the storeroom."

"Shit, they're about to-"

"Link!" Malon's panicked voice came through the radio.

"What?!" I asked.

There was no response.

I hesitated, unsure of what to do.

"Ah, so you're the one." Arnav said, his deep voice booming across the roof. "Haven't I met you before?"

Ilia glared at him, valiant even in the face of death.

"I see." Arnav said, drawing his handgun. "You face your death with silence, when most would beg for life or grovel at my feet. I can respect your courage, but there is no honor in a traitor's death."

I took my rifle off my back, sighting in on Arnav's head. Shooting him would blow our cover early, but I needed to save Ilia. Bo would risk his own life to save any one of us, so I had to help his daughter to the best of my ability.

 _Where are those cluster bombs?_ I wondered, my heart racing. I needed them to drop immediately.

The door leading to the roof slammed open and a few dozen Collective soldiers swarmed upstairs. They wore the black stripes of the Collective Army's Rangers, of which Malon and I had killed plenty of in the last week. Unfortunately, they were carrying a hog-tied and perfectly visible Malon.

"Goddesses." I whispered, forcing my heart to slow down. "Where are those goddamn bombs?!"

"I'll free Malon." Sword said. "Don't miss."

"We found this one sneaking around the officers' living quarters!" One of the soldiers called out. "Your majesty, she's a Hylian. This armor is a Hylian model."

Arnav looked up at Malon curiously.

"It seems that your mistake is going to cost more than your own life." He said to Ilia. "I assume she's here to kill me based on the information you sent into Castle Town. Fortunately, it seems that she failed.

I glanced at the time. Sixty seconds had already passed since I ordered the cluster bomb strike.

"Naval Command, what's with my contingency?" I asked, switching to the long-range radio. "I need that Alpha-six to initiate _now!_ "

"The destroyer just jumped in, Ghost-One. What's your status?"

"All sorts of fucked. Tell them to hurry."

"Shot away."

"Shot away." I repeated, crossing my fingers. Arnav was saying something as Malon was dropped in front of him, but I couldn't hear him anymore. My hands were shaking, so I pointed my rifle at his chest to ensure I could actually hit him. I had an armor piercing explosive-tip round in the chamber, so his body armor wouldn't matter. Not even a TALOS suit could stop this shot.

"Splash."

I listened for a few seconds, my anxiety nearly reaching a breaking point.

"Negative, Command." I started. "No sp-"

The cluster bombs hit the Collective camp at insane speeds, breaking apart several hundred meters in the air so that they spread over the entire area. The shock wave nearly knocked me off my feet, but I regained my balance quickly. Before the sound from the blast had finished echoing around the Grounds, I aimed at Arnav's chest and squeezed the trigger.

I barely felt the recoil, and watched as Arnav fell back into the black glass object behind him. The bullet exploded out of his side, and I could see the impact point in the center of his chest where the armor had been torn to shreds.

 _Good, it bounced around inside him._ I thought, momentarily turning my attention to the group of confused Rangers. They were being hacked apart one-by-one, but still hadn't realized it. I squeezed off a few more shots to pick off those that strayed away from the group, and then looked back at Arnav.

 _No way._

He was struggling to his feet.

 _How is he still alive?!_

He pointed his handgun at Ilia, who had now thrown herself to the ground, so I fired another shot into his chest. His blood splattered all over the black glass behind him, but he didn't fall down. The glass lit up with a burst of energy, and its intricate patterns began spinning around the center.

I shot again, striking him in the neck. On its own, the bullet should have torn his head off, and yet he was still functioning. His handgun aligned with Ilia's head, and I couldn't shoot him again before it fired.

 _No!_

He fired two more times, and then pointed his handgun at Malon. I squeezed my trigger again, blowing his right hand to pieces and obliterating his firearm.

A bullet hit my left shoulder, and I became instantly aware of the entire Collective company that had followed my muzzle flash. A hail of bullets rained down on my position as I ducked back at the ledge by the stairs.

"Sword, they're locked onto me." I said. "What's going on?"

There was no response, so I peeked over the ledge and looked at the Rangers. Over twenty of them lay dead or dying underneath the pedestal Arnav was still lying on, but Sword was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, four Collective gunships rose up on the side of the Arbiter's Grounds, hovering behind me. Their miniguns started spinning, so I quickly bailed from my position and ran up towards Arnav. It was likely that they could see me with life detection, but the infantry unit guarding the area still couldn't. There was only one place the gunships wouldn't shoot, and it would buy me enough time to call in another strike.

I grabbed Malon and flung her up behind Arnav as I ran past the dead Rangers. He was barely moving, but he certainly wasn't dead. I stuck my knife against his throat.

"How the hell are you still alive?" I growled in frustration.

Arnav turned and looked at me, although he shouldn't have been able to see me at all. His face bore a bloody, shit eating grin that would haunt me for years to come.

"I've been waiting for you."

I noticed then that his hand was back in place, rather than torn to shreds. Furthermore, he wasn't bleeding. All the blood seeping out of his uniform was black and sticky, and his wounds had closed.

 _My goddesses, is he undead?!_

The black glass behind me suddenly hummed loudly, projecting a portal onto the giant block of obsidian.

Arnav froze, staring at the sudden occurrence. I didn't have that luxury, noticing that the miniguns were spinning on the gunships again. They opened fire, pumping the entire pedestal with bullets.

 _Somehow, they know that bullets aren't affecting Arnav and they're going to kill us by shooting through him._ I realized.

I could see only one escape route. I had no idea where Sword was, and Malon was unconscious, so this was the only option. I lobbed both of my grenades at two of the gunships, sticking them onto the cockpit windows, and initiated my emergency information dump. My TALOS suit beamed all of the visor camera's logs back to the listening post and started a live feed.

"Hylian Command, Broken Arrow." I said, not bothering to repeat myself or give a callsign. They would be receiving my video feed soon enough.

Once the grenades blew out the windows of two of the gunships, I used the momentary break to sling Malon over my shoulder and take off. The black glass had projected a light bridge leading to the portal, and I didn't hesitate to run across it. The two remaining gunships continued to fire, striking my armor several dozen times and nearly knocking me off the light bridge, but I willed myself into the portal.

It felt like a lifetime before I reached it, but I didn't look back as my body split into millions of fragments and disappeared.

For better or worse, this battle was over.

…

 **Please review!**

" **Shot" and "splash" are terms used in artillery. The guys firing the artillery will radio "shot" forward to signal that they've fired the round, and then say "splash" when the round should hit. The infantry who called in the artillery will radio back "splash" when the rounds actually hit. Obviously it's been scaled up to space destroyers in this story, because this is a fanfic and I can do what I want.**

 **Get learnt about something I mention in this chapter. Who says you can't combine fanfiction and physics? /encyclopedia/rain-shadow/**

 **Summary of edits**

 **Sword goes with Link and Malon on their botched adventure into the Arbiter's Grounds instead of Sheik, since Sheik doesn't exist now**

 **Sword's identity is revealed to Zelda, but not anyone else. Yes, she's Saria. This will be more important in part 3.**

 **Richard and his technicians are released from Spud's core, which hadn't happened by the end of part 1 in the original**

 **The entire premise of the assassination attempt changes**

 **A LOT more planning. They're not just winging it like they were in the original.**

 **Link has the Navy use a MAC cannon to destroy an outpost in the canyons separating the desert and Lake Hylia. This serves as a distraction for him, Malon, and Sword to slip into the Arbiter's Grounds undetected. See wiki/Magnetic_Accelerator_Cannon because I definitely didn't come up with the concept of the MAC cannon and it doesn't belong to me**

 **Ilia has already been captured by the Collective when they get there, and is being brought up for execution.**

 **Link lands several shots on Arnav, but can't kill him even though they're quality hits. Arnav's body heals insanely fast.**

 **Sword gets lost in the chaos, and Link is forced to escape through the Mirror of Twilight, which mysteriously opens a portal after being hit with Arnav's blood (after he was shot multiple times by Link)**


	10. Part 1 Chapter 10

**Not relative to the first or second parts of this story, but you can find a Curiosity Rover selfie at night here - www. /image/mars-panorama-curiosity-selfie-night  
This is what you would see if the Earth didn't have so much light and 90% of the atmosphere got blown away. You would be dead, but at least the view would be lit.**

 **Summary of edits at the bottom. This is about 70% new and 30% copied from the old chapter 10. The end result, as always, is the same.**

 **This edit definitely isn't getting done before the end of the month like I wanted. Sorry guys. It's my last semester in college and I've been working on finding a full time job (which I was successful at, fortunately). I should have more time to get it done in the upcoming weeks, and then I can start on part 2.**

Chapter 10

Zelda

I stared at the video link in disbelief. It had only taken a few minutes for Impa to bust into my room and share the recording from Link's visor cam, but it had thoroughly ruined my day.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, rewinding to watch Link shoot Arnav multiple times. "He should have been dead on the first hit. It was a perfect shot, and yet he survives…what? Four hits? Three of those should have been lethal."

"I… I don't know." Rusl said, scratching his head.

"He appears to be undead." Impa said. "I don't know how that would be possible, but it's the only explanation I can think of. Why Link didn't use the Master Sword to kill him is completely beyond me."

"He wouldn't have known that the Master Sword is effective against undead." Rusl said. "Nobody would, including me. Where is Saria, though?"

Impa glanced at Rusl when he used Sword's real name, but let the matter go.

"She seems to have disappeared when the gunships started circling the place, which was probably a smart move on her part." I said. "She's going to be in need of an extraction, though. I'll let Ralph know."

"She'll be fine." Impa said. "Between the gunship at the listening post and the Collective transports moving between the canyons, she'll find a ride. Right now we need to focus on the naval battle."

She switched to a live feed being streamed from one of the Navy's carriers, which were hanging behind the bulk of the battle. The battle had just started, and the Hylian Navy had yet to fully jump into orbit. They had met a thinner part of the Collective blockade over the southern hemisphere and were about to engage them.

A destroyer fired its MAC cannon, striking a smaller Collective ship in the side and blasting apart on its shield. I watched in awe as the Collective ship distorted and melted. The force of the impact knocked it out of orbit and it was sent crashing to the surface of the Southern Ocean several hundred kilometers below.

"How did…" Rusl started.

"The MAC rounds are designed to dump all of their energy when they hit shields." I said. "The thermal output from that impact is enough to heat the ship inside of the shield to the point that it melts and becomes inoperable. The bigger ships wouldn't drop out of orbit with one hit, but that was a smaller one. Regardless, all of the crew is killed on impact, and the ship is damaged beyond repair."

The Collective fleet started returning fire, but couldn't do much damage to the Hylian destroyers. Our shield technology was decades ahead of their weaponry, and it made for a quick battle.

"That's just the first attack, obviously." Impa said. "The idea is to lure the Collective around to the southern hemisphere and attack there, just in case one of those MAC cannons misses. There's hardly anyone to harm down there, since it's mostly ocean."

"Switch back to the camera feed from Link. I just thought of something." Rusl said. I did as he asked, and he stared at the video as it played through.

"There. Pause it." He said at the end. "Maybe we were distracted by the space battle, but did anyone question where the hell they went? Saria disappeared, but then Link runs into this strange portal with Malon and the feed cuts off."

I sighed, not wanting to admit that I was going to be the one dealing with this situation.

"They'll be safe." I said finally.

"Where did they go?" Rusl asked curiously.

"That's the Mirror of Twilight." I replied. "It's the reason we can't just blow the whole place apart and kill them all. That mirror is our only link to the Twilight Realm, which is kind of like the shadow sister of Hyrule."

"Is that the same Twilight Realm that's mentioned in the legends of the Hero of Light?"

I nodded.

"And you're sure they'll be safe?"

Impa looked at me curiously before I could answer.

"How are relations with the Twilight Princess, Zelda?"

"Goddesses help me." I groaned, putting my head in my hands.

"I'll take it that there's been absolutely no contact between you and Midna since you were crowned Queen."

"Barely any, and I was hoping to keep it that way." I admitted. "But now Link and Malon are there, so I have to. Impa, go get a few mages and have them fire up the communications mini-mirror downstairs."

"At least you're taking care of it immediately." She said, and then turned to walk out.

Rusl stared after her, his confusion evident on his face.

"So let me get this straight." He said. "We're not necessarily enemies with the people of the Twilight Realm-"

"The Twili." I said.

"So we're not enemies of the Twili, but we're not allies?"

"Correct."

"So normal relations." Rusl said. "But what's with this hesitance to talk to… Midna? The Twilight Princess?"

"Let's just say that Midna isn't the type of person you want to owe a favor to." I said. "And not in the ominous way. Just in a way that I know she'll capitalize on it later and I won't be able to do _anything._ I think most of this is just the fact that we don't like each other."

"And why don't you like each other?"

"It's complicated."

Rusl sighed.

"I'll never understand women."

I looked back at the video, rewinding it over and over to make sure I hadn't missed any details. My generals would be doing the same thing at this very moment. The good thing was that Arnav had absolutely no idea what he toying with. The Mirror of Twilight was very much a two-way door, and Link and Malon could both be brought back as long as the mirror itself was intact. No amount of ordnance could destroy it, either. There were only two people in history who had managed to damage the mirror, and only one of those had actually destroyed it. It took centuries, but another mirror was finally built and contact reestablished with the Twilight. Even I had at least met the current monarch of the Twilight Realm in person, albeit when I was a child.

Just as Hyrule had a line of strikingly similar females in the royal family, the Twilight Realm had a line of similar female monarchs throughout history. The Twilight Realm and Hyrule were eternally bound to each other, separated by only a razor-thin barrier of energy.

Earlier in my reign, I had pushed funding to find a way to bring denizens of the twilight back to the land of light and unify our people, but the effort had failed. I had made the mistake of believing that the Twili resented their living conditions and blamed Hylians. Our ancestors had, after all, banished their ancestors to live in eternal darkness.

Instead, I got a life lesson. Midna had sent me a rather pointed message that the interactions between our ancestors meant absolutely nothing to her, and the Twili had grown to enjoy the Twilight Realm. Instead, Twili were offered the chance to hide in the shadows of a Hylian escort if they wanted to visit Hyrule. Such visits were rare to begin with, and had almost completely dwindled in years past.

I could contact Midna without the Mirror of Twilight, but it was difficult and required me to enlist the help of several mages. Those same mages were likely still worn out from deactivating Spud, so I'd have to keep the conversation short. It needed to happen now, though. The Twili had most certainly already found Link and Malon.

…

Link

…

I stumbled out of the portal, falling to the ground with Malon still on my shoulders. I didn't even know if I'd been wounded in the barrage of minigun fire when I'd run across the light bridge, and I was too scared to check. Instead, I checked Malon. Her back and legs were riddled with scrapes and dents, but her armor seemed to have absorbed all of the damage. After a quick glance at myself, I realized that I was equally fortunate.

I looked around the area, and the magnitude of the situation hit me.

 _Are we on another planet?_

The area around me was strangely gray, and I couldn't see a sun. The sky was uniformly orange, like Hyrule at sunset, and seemed to be the only source of light. A single black cloud ran from one length of the sky to the other.

In front of me lay a stone palace covered in glowing runes, sitting atop a hill with a city below it. The portal had dropped us in the front courtyard, and several creatures had already surrounded us. They were small, black, and humanoid. Their language was unfamiliar to me, but my TALOS helmet's translator registered it as a variation on Ancient Hylian.

"Identify yourselves immediately or you'll be shot." One of them said. I realized that he was pointing what looked like a rifle at me. It was small, just like the creature holding it, but the concept was the same.

"Easy there." I said, putting my hands up in surrender. "We don't mean any harm. My friend is injured and I had to come through a portal to escape danger."

The creatures erupted into confusion.

"What language is he speaking? Is he Hylian?"

"Of course he's Hylian, you idiot. Look at how big they are."

"That doesn't mean they're Hylian. Besides, I thought they weren't allowed to come here without permission. I didn't hear anything about visitors."

"Does anyone speak Hylian?"

"Dude nobody speaks Hylian anymore except the big shots in the government."

I adjusted my suit's speakers to translate my voice.

"Can you understand me now?" I asked.

The creatures stopped talking and stared at me.

"He speaks Twili?" One of them asked.

"Awful Twili. But apparently so."

"I can understand you." I reminded them.

They all looked around awkwardly.

"Well… Who are you?" One of them asked.

"I'm a Hylian soldier. My friend was hurt and I had to escape through a portal to save her." I said. "This is where we ended up."

"You went through the Mirror of Twilight? I thought only the blood of the Royal Family or Princess Midna herself could activate that mirror."

That answered a lot of questions for me.

"I…may have shot a member of the Royal Family." I said. "That's how his blood ended up on the mirror and I guess the portal opened because of that."

"Hot damn that sounds wild." One of the Twili said. "But we're going to have to detain you for the moment until someone up top figures out what to do."

"I'll cooperate as long as you guys let me check on my friend." I said.

I didn't particularly care whether they gave me permission or not. Malon hadn't woken up yet, and I was beginning to get concerned. My TALOS suit allowed me to deactivate Malon's helmet, so I pulled it off her head and checked her breathing. To my immense relief, she was still alive. I hadn't doubted that, since my armor gave me status updates on my nearby allies, but a nagging doubt had been probing the back of my mind.

In hindsight, I still didn't know why Malon was unconscious. She had been completely aware of what was going on when she was captured and brought to the top of the Arbiter's Grounds. I looked at her helmet and immediately found out why. A large dent had been created right above her temple, although the bullet hadn't passed through.

It was possible that I hadn't shot Arnav's hand off before he fired at Malon. It seemed like the most logical explanation, since Malon had an accompanying bruise over the left side of her skull. For the moment, though, she was alive. The Twili were talking among themselves as I checked her for serious injuries.

"Excuse me." One of them asked. "Is she alive?"

"Yeah, she's fine." I replied.

I splashed some water on Malon's face and slapped her hard enough to jolt her. She woke with a start, aiming a swift right hook at my head, but I dodged it deftly. I didn't want her to break her hand on my armor.

"Easy there." I said, pinning her arms down. "It's just me."

"Oh." She said, breathing a sigh of relief. "What happened? Where the hell are we?"

"Uhhh…" I started, looking around. "The Twilight Realm, I guess. I managed to get us out of the Arbiter's Grounds using a portal that opened. We've already attracted quite a bit of attention."

Malon glanced at the Twili surrounding us. Several more had shown up from the palace, and I could see an entire platoon headed our direction. Sirens were beginning to sound throughout the grounds, echoing down into the city.

"This sounds pretty serious." Malon said. "I hope we don't cause too much of a disturbance, but it seems like we already did."

"I don't guess you guys could tell them to chill out with the sirens, could you?" I asked the gathered Twili. They said nothing this time.

I was beginning to get suspicious when a much taller Twili approached the group. He looked almost nothing like the smaller soldiers, standing nearly six inches taller than me and carrying a sword as his main weapon. His skin was a lighter shade of blue than the rest of the soldiers.

"I'm an officer of the Royal Army." He stated loudly, drawing his sword and pointing it at me. "You are currently in violation of international law and trespassing on Twili territory. Lay down your arms immediately or be dealt with as an enemy of the State."

"Oh shit, they're going to arrest us." Malon said. "What should we do?"

"Well we can't really fight this many of them with limited ammo." I said, careful to turn off my speaker and communicate through our helmet link.

"I hate to surrender my weapons, though." She replied.

"I know, but let's just do it for the sake of peace. I linked my helmet cam with Castle Town before I escaped, so they know we're here." I said.

Whether or not we could be helped was another matter entirely. I didn't know much about diplomatic relations between Hyrule and the Twilight, but at best they were fringe negotiations. There wasn't much need for contact between the two realms, and I had never heard Zelda breathe a word about its presence. My own knowledge was limited to a few lessons in a high school history class, and even that information was grounded only in legends of the Hero of Light. It was one of very few subjects that the Hylian government kept a tight lid on.

I held my hands out in surrender, activating my microphone's translator.

"We'll cooperate. I don't want to cause problems." I said. "Do you want me to remove my own weapons or would you like to do it for me?"

Malon sighed and put her hands on top of her head.

"Remain where you are. If you move, you die."

"Goddesses he's a charmer." Malon said as the Twili swarmed us.

My rifle was taken immediately, and some of them set their attention on removing the Master Sword. Interestingly, they were unable to take it off my armor. I released the electromagnet holding it, dropping it point-down in the gray dirt. One of the Twili tried to lift it, but was unable to.

"Sir, we can't move this thing."

The officer walked over, his sword still drawn and pointed at me.

"Step away from it."

I kept my hands up and took a few steps away from the Master Sword, even though that distance hardly would have prevented me from retrieving it if I wanted to. The officer put his hand on the hilt of the Master Sword and pulled, grunting as he was unable to move it.

"Enough of this." He said. "Six of you stay here and guard that thing, as well as the portal. The rest of you, help me take these two to the dungeon."

"Are they really going to let us keep our handguns?" Malon asked, amused.

I looked at the Twili curiously. None of them carried anything that resembled a handgun, so it seemed that the concept was completely foreign to them. Not even a single one of them had glanced at mine, so for the time it seemed that I would remain armed.

We were led into a building adjacent to the palace, which seemed like a Twili version of military barracks. There was a dungeon below it, which we were promptly locked in.

I released the clasps on my helmet and removed it, glancing over at Malon.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, ignoring the present situation. "You got shot in the head."

"Is that what happened?" She asked curiously. "I don't remember much after I got thrown down in front of Arnav… Wait. What the hell happened with him? Did you kill him?"

I shook my head.

"Something happened. I shot him twice in the chest, once in the neck, and then I blew his hand apart right after he shot you. By the time we went through the portal, though, all of those injuries had healed."

"So he's undead?" Malon asked.

"I'm not sure." I admitted. "I don't quite believe that. Undead are rare and have the mental capacity of a toddler."

"Bioaugmentation, then?"

I shook my head again.

"There's no known bioaugmentation that can do that. It could be bioaugmentation mixed with magical ability, since he's from the Royal Family, but I can't imagine he had enough magical energy to survive three lethal hits."

"No, I don't think anyone does." Malon replied. "But I guess we'll have to figure it out later."

"Yeah…" I mumbled, looking around the small cell. "This is kind of a sticky situation. Should we try to escape or just wait it out?"

"I say we just wait." Malon said. "They don't see our handguns as weapons, so at least we have some form of protection if it comes down to it. Plus they didn't seem to intent on hurting us. If the higher ups know where we are, it's best to lay low and wait for them to come get us."

"Just because they know where we are doesn't mean they'll be able to organize a diplomatic rescue." I pointed out.

"Then Impa will organize a violent one."

I nodded, knowing that was true. I wasn't too worried about the present situation, since I had been through much worse in the past. Plus, I could think of worse fates than being crammed into a confined area with Malon.

"Hey, Link." She said quietly.

"Don't even start with that." I said, already knowing what she was going to say.

"You saved my life again."

"Yes, and you would have done the exact same thing for me."

She sighed.

"Goddesses, I've really got to start keeping up with you. Impa might give you my officer rank if I keep getting my ass dragged out of these screw-ups."

I sighed and shook my head.

"You aren't the only one who screwed up." I said. "Remember that I was the one tasked with actually killing Arnav. You getting captured provided a good enough distraction to get cluster bombs dropped on the camp, and probably gave me an opportunity to get a shot off without being seen immediately."

"Four shots, actually." Malon said.

"Exactly. So don't feel like you didn't do anything."

She sat down, looking rather dejected. I sat next to her quietly, content to simply wait out this situation. After a few minutes, a Twili guard walked in the dungeon and looked over at us. I put my helmet back on so I could understand what he was saying.

"-the Hylians who came through the Mirror?"

"Yeah, that's us." I said.

"Princess Midna wants-"

The door flung open behind the guard and a tall female Twili strode in. She was dressed in an ornate black robe, and stood just as tall as the officer who had arrested me earlier. I was shocked at how attractive she was. Her red eyes bored into me.

"You're Link?" She asked in perfect Hylian.

I removed my helmet and met her eyes.

"Yes."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Goddesses, you have no idea how long I've waited for this."

She waved her hand, unlocking the door.

"I'm Midna, the Twilight Princess. Come with me."

…

Zelda

Ten minutes earlier

…

I sat down in front of the small communication mirror, ready to be done with this conversation. Midna was going to be extremely unhappy about this, and I would have to make some concessions to secure Link and Malon's release.

Bo was with me for the moment. He wasn't taking the news of his daughter's death well, but he had insisted that the only thing he could do to help cope was to work normally. I hated that he wouldn't even have a body to bury, but I could at least grant this wish.

"Do you think she'll cooperate?" He asked me curiously.

"It doesn't matter what she thinks. They're going to be in a lot of legal trouble if they're caught in the Twilight Realm without permission." I replied. "I need to make sure they're not thrown in jail and left there."

"So you don't know." Bo said. He wasn't asking.

I shook my head.

Midna and I had always had a somewhat rocky relationship. We were very different people, and yet had formed somewhat of an unspoken agreement to neutrality between each other. The relations between our countries were negligible, and so it never caused a problem. It was more of a personal issue.

Midna grated on my nerves.

It was an unfair truth. She was a different person in a different world, but something about her didn't sit right with me. I was certain that she had picked up on that fact at some point, but fortunately our interactions were far and few between. I certainly never expected it to cause a problem between our people due to the sparse interactions between Twili and Hylians.

Hopefully she would be available. Half the time I needed to talk, my request was postponed. I couldn't imagine what she had to do all day when their people hadn't even expanded to the entirety of their planet, but it was a question that would likely never be answered.

Rauru was quick at meeting my request. He entered the room with three mages, all of whom I recognized. They had just spent weeks deactivating Spud and removing Richard from the AI core, and looked as exhausted as I felt.

"I'm sorry to make you three do this." I said. "Believe me, I wouldn't risk overworking you guys if I didn't absolutely have to."

"It's no problem, your majesty." The oldest one replied. "We knew the challenges of this job when we took it."

I nodded and tapped the mirror, prompting the mages to pour magical energy into it. I helped by adding some of my own to the mix, and was quickly rewarded with a crystal-clear image of the Twili guard who monitored the mirror. He sat up in surprise.

"Your majesty." He said, nodding. "Would you like to request an audience with the Twilight Princess?"

"Yes, please." I said. I thought about stressing how urgent this was, but that would only encourage Midna to deny the request.

"Very well. It'll just be a few minutes." He said. The mirror went blank.

I sighed. This was going to take more than a few minutes. In the meantime, I rearranged my hair so that it didn't look so disorderly and tried to wipe some of the smudges from my face. I had spent the entire morning helping to repair damage in the city, and it was showing. It would be blatantly obvious that I was having a rough time, but Midna didn't need to know just how bad things were on this side of the mirror.

After what seemed like an eternity, Midna appeared. I had forgotten how unnaturally attractive she was. She looked unlike any other Twili I had ever seen. She was tall, and had long red hair. Her skin was a darker shade of blue, like all of the Twili.

"It looks like you've had better days, Zelda." She said, grinning. I quietly groaned. That didn't take long.

"I'll get to the point." I said. "We've had an issue, and two of my best soldiers were sent through the Mirror of Twilight against their will. I'd like to negotiate accommodations for them until we can secure the Mirror and come get them back."

Midna stared at me for a second, obviously not sure what to think about the situation.

"Well I can see why that's a problem." She said. "I just walked away from a report that a male and female Hylian came through the Mirror of Twilight about twenty minutes ago. I'm glad you didn't waste any time contacting me. Could you describe them for me?"

This was annoying. There weren't any other Hylians going through that mirror.

"The female has red hair and blue eyes. Her name is Malon Mizusawa. The male is tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. His name is Link White. They're both part of my personal task force."

I opened my tablet and pulled up Malon's file, showing her picture to Midna through the connection. I then scrolled over to Link. She sat up a little straighter when she saw his face.

"That's…" She started. "You said his name is Link White?"

I nodded.

"Well I could have them jailed for life for violating the treaty about travel between our two worlds. I could also have them executed under Twili law." Midna said.

"You could, but wasn't it you who said the interactions between our ancestors didn't mean anything to you?" I asked. "Which would basically invalidate that treaty. And as for executing them, I already know you won't do that. One of them bears the spirit of the hero."

"I'm aware of that already." Midna said. "I can tell by looking at him."

The Twili were very much believers in the legend of the hero after one of Link's predecessors had personally slain the traitor Zant and, as a result, saved the Twilight Realm. His companion had been one of Midna's predecessors, so the line of heroes was eternally bound to the line of monarchs in the Twilight Realm. The legends were still told among the Twili to this day. Midna was honor-bound to ensure Link's safety.

"Good." I said. "I'll send someone to retrieve them as soon as we're able. We're fighting a large-scale war right now, and it may be several weeks before my forces have access to the Arbiter's Grounds. Until then, I'd appreciate if you could take care of them. Obviously, I'll pay you for the trouble. I know how much your troops enjoy Hylian weaponry."

"I'm going to take care of this right now, and you just let me know when it's safe for them to return." Midna said. "I can't ignore this."

I almost said something passive-aggressive, but stopped myself. This was a surprising level of cooperation from the Twilight Princess, and she deserved my respect.

"Thank you, Midna. Really."

"I have one condition, though." She said. I nodded. "Tell me what the hell's going on over there that got two of your best soldiers forced through the Mirror of Twilight."

I didn't want to explain this, but she deserved an answer.

"Castle is under siege." I said. "My…half-brother started a revolution in an attempt to claim the throne, and they invaded at the same time our operational AI went haywire and blasted nukes in the upper atmosphere. I suspect that he's trying to use the Mirror of Twilight as a weapon in much the same way Zant did. We've got the manpower to stamp this out, but it's going to take a little while."

Midna nodded seriously. This was a side of her I'd never seen before.

"You realize this concerns us, too?" She asked. "If he succeeds at fully merging our worlds, a lot of Twili are going to die. All of them, in fact. Do you have a plan to stop this from happening?"

"We did." I said. "That plan is now trapped in the Twilight Realm."

"And suddenly this makes sense. You sent your best soldiers to stop whatever was going on, and their mission failed?"

"Something like that." I replied.

"Okay, well I'm going to go make sure your two assassins are safe, and then I'll speak with the War Council and see if there's anything we can do from our end."

"Are you offering help?" I asked, surprised.

"Not yet." Midna said. "I can't do that without a resolution from the War Council. It would be easier if you officially requested help from me, though."

I swallowed. This was unprecedented, and would have widespread implications for future interactions between the light and shadow. We had no official alliance with the Twilight Realm, and I had no legal basis or authority to ask them for assistance with internal problems. However, she was right in her observation that using the Mirror of Twilight as a weapon could negatively affect her people, which made this a shared concern. Furthermore, the council was disbanded for the moment, so I couldn't actually ask them permission to form a temporary alliance. I'd just have to make a decision on my own.

"Very well." I said. "For what it's worth, I'm officially requesting assistance to make sure that the Mirror of Twilight cannot be used as a weapon against Hyrule."

Midna nodded.

"I'm going to go see what I can do." She said. The mirror went blank, and I sat back in the chair.

"That was unexpected." Bo said from behind me.

"Yeah, you can say that again." I replied, standing up and moving over to the door. "I just hope I'm not making a huge mistake."

…

Link

…

Midna led us upstairs and into the main hall of the palace, where several hundred Twili had gathered to stare at us. They whispered amongst themselves as Malon and I walked past. I couldn't understand what they were saying without my helmet on, but I didn't feel any need to listen. They were obviously talking about us.

We were led onto a small platform in the massive hall, which lit up and lifted off the ground as soon as we stood still.

"You've been pardoned of your crimes due to the necessity of your actions." Midna said as we drifted through the air. "Queen Zelda contacted me directly about the situation, and I see no reason to punish either of you for doing what you had to do."

"I appreciate that." I said. "I'm sorry we caused so much commotion. That definitely wasn't our intent."

"It's not a problem." Midna replied. "Honestly, it was some much-needed excitement for most people. You're likely to be the subject of a lot of speculation over the next week or two."

"Weeks?" Malon asked, concerned.

"Yes, you'll need to stay here until Zelda clears up whatever situation is going on back in Hyrule." Midna said. "That's her request."

It made sense. There was no way Malon and I could escape into the Arbiter's Grounds without being noticed. Some sort of rescue mission would have to be coordinated. Our best chance to escape would likely be in the middle of the Hylian Army's assault on the desert, which would be happening in just a few days. If I had to stay here more than a week, it would be a worst-case scenario.

"Anyways," Midna continued. "I've arranged for you two to have two of the guest rooms in the palace, which we're currently in. You'll be fed as much as you'd like, and we'll do our best to accommodate any other needs you may have. I'll arrange for a new set of clothing to be brought for each of you, as well. These rooms are designed to house our rare Hylian visitors, so you should find them to your liking. Link, someone will be by later to take you back to the Master Sword so you can retrieve it. Unfortunately, only a Hylian can pick it up, so we can't bring it to you. Your rifles will also be returned later."

Our platform reached the top floor and we stepped off, entering a hallway with rows of doors down either side.

"Malon, you'll be staying in the last room on the right. Link, you'll be at the end of the hall. That room is reserved for the one with the Spirit of the Hero. I'd just like to say that we're honored to have you here."

I felt a little awkward with the way she said that.

"I haven't really done anything." I said, shrugging.

Malon finally distracted Midna, which was much appreciated. I couldn't handle this.

"Don't let him tell you that. He's a war hero back home, whether he admits it or not."

Midna laughed, and then winked at me.

"I'll swing by later once I get this other thing sorted out." She said, stepping back onto the light platform. "You two get comfortable."

As Midna disappeared below the ledge, I turned to Malon.

"That was uncomfortable."

That only made her laugh at me, so I turned around and walked into my room. Malon followed, flopping down on the massive bed as soon as she reached it. There had certainly been no expense spared in this room. It was painted blue and gold, and its windows overlooked the city below the palace. I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything had happened so quickly, I hadn't had time to realize just how exhausted and afraid I had been ever since I entered the desert.

I gave the voice command for my armor to disassemble itself, and it dropped to the ground with a few clicks. The individual pieces then snapped together on their own, forming a neat pile. I still had a few thin layers of spandex underneath the armor to provide a cushion, so I left those on for the moment. I hoped Midna would get us the clothing soon, because I was definitely in need of a change. I probably smelled horrible.

I looked up to see that Malon was removing her armor as well.

"You… don't want to go in your room to do that?" I asked.

She looked at me strangely.

"You think I'm actually staying in there?"

I looked down at the bed. It was enormous, but it was still only one bed.

"Oh, don't be such a moral champion." Malon said. "That gunship was a lot more cramped than this bed. Besides, I… don't like sleeping alone."

For some reason, that revelation held a lot of weight. It was hard to get Malon to open up, and she was hard to read even when she did. It could have been that we were just getting used to each other, but there was still a wall I was going to have to get past. I was slowly finding out that Malon was, in fact, a regular woman underneath her hard outer shell. She had insecurities just like anyone else, and I was only just beginning to find out about them.

Personally, I felt that it added a little bit of humanity to her that had been missing before. Malon wasn't the cold, battle-hardened warrior that she sometimes came across as.

When I didn't say anything, she walked over and wrapped her arms around me.

"I know I don't show it, but deep down I actually do have feelings and emotions." She said, resting her head against my chest. "And even deeper down in the pits of my cold, black heart, I care about you. I like being around you, even though we're usually about to die. So yes, I'm spending the night in here."

I laughed at that, and then kissed her gently. I hadn't had the chance to do this since she had initially opened up to me back in Castle Town, and had been worried that she had changed her mind about pursuing a relationship.

It appeared she hadn't. I had days' worth of built up grime on my body, but she didn't seem to mind. For a few blissful moments, we held each other close and enjoyed the comfortable feeling of our companionship.

This was all so new to me. I'd had relationships in high school, but since joining the military I was never afforded the opportunity. It would have been impossible until I joined the SSC, by which point I was 23 years old with next to no experience with girls. I had no idea what I was supposed to say or do, but fortunately Malon didn't make it difficult. She was about as low-drama as they came.

I knew I needed to shower, so I separated from her for the time being. Fortunately it looked as if the Twili had stocked soap and, interestingly, shampoo in the bathroom. Only a few of the Twili I had seen had had hair.

Clothing would be an issue, but at least there was a shower robe hanging up. That would work for the moment. As I washed the days' worth of dirt and grime off of myself, I reflected back on the past few weeks. They had certainly been hectic, and it was a miracle I had even made it this far. I needed a break from all the chaos. Even though the war was still raging back home, at least I could get some peace and quiet in the moment. I felt certain Zelda was going to have us out of here soon enough, anyways.

Suddenly, I had a shower thought.

"Hey Malon." I called through the cracked door. "You don't have any idea what happened to Sword when the shooting started, do you? She disappeared and I wasn't able to find her before I left. I saw that she killed about a dozen Rangers, but then she was just gone."

There was a pause as Malon thought through it.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." She said. "I could check back through my video feed to see if I looked at her or anything. But all I remember is a cluster bomb hitting the camp, a bunch of Collective soldiers getting hacked apart, and then Arnav shooting me."

I pondered the matter for a few moments. Sword was more than capable of surviving in a hostile environment like that, but it was strange to me that she had just disappeared in the middle of the assassination attempt.

I likely wouldn't be getting any answers soon, either.

…

Zelda

…

Several days passed, and the doctors finally allowed me to see Richard in his hospital room. He had been severely dehydrated and was on the verge of having radiation poisoning, meaning he would need gene reconstruction therapy. The process was painful and labor-intensive.

I walked in the room quietly, not wanting to disturb him if he was sleeping. Fortunately, he wasn't.

He looked at me, his eyes blank. I could already feel tears running down my face, even though I had promised myself I wouldn't cry. When I sat next to him, I couldn't stop the emotional outburst.

I hadn't cried like this in years. I was supposed to be a queen, but I didn't feel like one when I buried my face in Richard's chest and sobbed. He put his arm around me in a small attempt at reassurance, but that only made my tears flow faster.

"I'm…sorry…" I started, trying to speak clearly.

I wanted to tell him that I had tried everything. I wanted to tell him that I had stayed up every night worrying about him. I wanted to tell him that I had considered blowing up my entire castle with orbital cannon fire to get him out of there. But I couldn't even speak a single word without choking up.

I crawled into his tiny hospital bed and curled up next to him. I was sure the doctors would disapprove, but I didn't care. Right now I needed Richard.

We laid there for a few minutes in near silence as I ran out of tears. Richard said nothing the entire time, only staring down at me from his pillow.

It may have been the radiation poisoning, but he seemed distant. Lost. Like his mind was somewhere else. This only distressed me further, so I buried my face in his shirt again and tried to forget about it.

The gene reconstruction therapy would bring him back to normal, and then I could have him back. I just had to wait a little longer.

…

 **Please review!**

 **Summary of edits**

 **Link and Malon appear in front of the Twilight Palace instead of out in a rural area**

 **They have no problems adjusting to the Twilight Realm**

 **They are still arrested, but Midna busts them out of jail almost immediately. Since Zelda didn't go to the Arbiter's Grounds in the edited version, she was able to address the issue immediately**

 *****Zelda reunites with Richard for the first time since he was released from Spud's core. He seems different*****


	11. Part 1 Chapter 11

**Almost there. Just one more chapter to edit after this.**

 **Read up on the history of the blitzkrieg if you don't already know what it is. I mention it in this chapter. wiki/Blitzkrieg**

…

Chapter 11

Link

Midna never returned that night, but her servants did bring us new clothing well after we had foregone most of our own. I managed fairly well until I woke up to a half-naked Malon wrapped around me in the middle of the night. I spent a little too long enjoying that.

We both slept for over twelve hours, finally able to take a break from the stress of the last few weeks. The Twili mattress and the eternal twilight outside made it easy, but finally I woke up. If humans could ever feel like a bear waking from hibernation, that would have been it. I still hadn't quite recovered from sleeping in the cramped gunship for so long, but today I felt like I had been reborn.

Malon was still in the long process of waking up, so I took the opportunity to give her a long once-over. Multiple times. Her body looked good underneath clothing, but it looked even better without most of it. Like every morning, her hair was an absolute mess. There was something wildly attractive about it, but that was easy to think while she was pressed up against me.

"You animal." She mumbled. I jumped as I realized her eyes were halfway open now, which drew a sleepy grin out of her.

"I can't help myself." I said, shrugging.

She crawled up and kissed me for a few seconds, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to savor the moment. Finally, she pulled away and settled with snuggling up next to me with her head on my arm.

"Can we just do this for a few weeks?" I asked.

"Don't say that. They'll find something for us to do sooner."

"That's inevitable." I said. "You know Zelda's going to be all over the Arbiter's Grounds until the Collective pulls out of there. Goddesses know Impa's frothing at the mouth to get us back. The rest of them are too old to do all the things we pull off."

"You think Midna would just tell them to wait for a while before they do that?" Malon asked. I grinned.

"I get the feeling that Midna's going to have a few things for us to do."

Malon groaned in response.

"This is what we get for being the best at what we do." She said. "Dragged into endless combat. Told to go out into the woods and get a mystical sword. Sent to assassinate a king. We should just run away and never go back."

"Yeah, but it's really cold here, and this is the only place they wouldn't find us." I said, pulling the blankets up a little higher.

Malon looked up at me.

"Do you ever think about that, though?" She asked. "Disappearing, I mean. Leaving the military and living a peaceful life."

I pondered the thought for a few moments. I could have gotten out of the Navy after two years just like everyone else and gone to school, but I had chosen not to. It was probably time for Malon to find out why, although the truth could potentially be difficult for her to swallow.

"I never had any real motivation to leave." I said. "All my friends and family were killed in the raid on Koholint Island, so I had nothing to go back to. The whole place is a haunted graveyard now."

"You don't have anyone left? No brothers or sisters who were away at the time?"

"Only Richard, and I can hardly call him a friend." I said. "He joined the Army or Marines or something, and was away at the time. You already know where he ended up after he left the military. But no, I think I was the only other person not on the island when it was attacked. The raiders must have planned it that way. There was a sort of homecoming festival going on, so everybody flew in from all over the planet to be with their families."

"But that seems so… Why would they just go kill everyone?" Malon asked.

"I wish I had the answer to that question." I said. "I don't know. They didn't steal anything, either. Just planted their flag over the pile of burning bodies and left."

"Who was it?"

"The Church of Eta Ali." I replied.

"You mean…"

"Yeah, the cult." I said.

The Church of Eta Ali was a Gerudo religious organization that had operated in the shadows for hundreds of years. They were entirely unpredictable, sometimes indiscriminately mowing down hordes of innocent people, and other times attempting to overthrow governments. Their flag was well-known within the Hylian military, but none of their ships had ever been observed or captured. Their operations were thought to be based on Cutov, the Gerudo home world, but there was no definitive proof of that. They had been running stealth operations against the Hylian Empire there for years.

"I guess I should be honest with you about some things." I said, knowing Malon wouldn't think any less of me for what I was about to tell her.

"What's that?" She asked, looking up at me curiously.

"The reason I've stayed in the Navy and never had any intention of leaving is because one day, we're going to find the Church of Eta Ali, and I've set myself up so that I'll be one of the guys storming their headquarters." I said. "I hate killing people, but I've pushed myself so hard for this purpose. To prepare myself to kill some of the Eta Ali worshippers in the most brutal ways I can imagine. I don't plan on leaving the military until I've slaughtered as many of them as possible."

"You became a sniper for that?" Malon asked, perplexed.

"That anger is what drives me." I said. "I completed the entire Black Ops Qualification list in a year and a half, fueled only by the desire for revenge."

Malon sat up, staring at me in shock now.

"Wait, you're Black Ops? What… Link, nobody's ever completed the Qualification that fast. You could only do that if you…"

"Never failed a single course." I said. "I'm one of four people in the Empire's history to complete all the courses without failing a single one. I started on that list one week after Koholint got raided."

"So you didn't just complete sniper school?"

"No, that's a false record planted to cover my time in Qualification." I said. "I completed the Black Ops Sniper Program, instead. Then I did Orbital Jump School, Ship-Based Weapons School, Explosive Ordnance School, all thirty levels of mixed martial arts, underwater demolition, vacuum demolition, nuclear warhead deployment qualification, and about twenty other schools by the time I finished the list. They were all run by the Black Ops program. I wasn't allowed to use magic the whole time, which is why I'm not lost and confused now that I have to rely on physical weapons."

"But… wait a second." She said, peering at me. "Pilot training is part of the list last time I checked. You said you're not a pilot."

"Oh, well yeah." I said. "I'm a bomber pilot, although that's not in my record, either. I should add that I crashed a gunship worth fifty-five million rupees when I tried pilot school _before_ starting on the list. There was no way they were letting me behind the stick of those super stealth jets the Black Ops guys use."

"How did I not know all of this?" Malon asked, clearly trying to process everything I was telling her. I was surprised that she even knew the Black Ops units existed. Not only that, she seemed to have a basic understanding of the training involved, which meant she had been made an offer by the unit's leadership at some point.

"I doubt anyone knows." I said. "I'm not allowed to talk to you about it, but I feel like you should be told. If most people knew that I wasn't this benign, peaceful person they think I am, they'd look at me differently. Having purely evil magic and its voices whispering to me for years didn't help, either. I'm not a war hero like you think I am. I'm just a man driven by rage and hatred."

"So how did you end up here if you're Black Ops qualified?" She asked.

"I'm a reservist." I said. "I've been released to pursue a regular career in the military and only be called up once Eta Ali is unearthed."

Malon looked down, running her hand along one of the scars on my chest. She was starting to make connections.

"What did they do to you?" She asked. "You always wear armor, so these scars couldn't have come from battle."

"Bioaugmentation." I said. "They covered my bones with a strengthening agent and genetically altered me so that my muscles became much denser. That's why I'm so heavy. They also did something that increased blood flow in my eyes, as well as another operation that increased my reaction time and mental acuity. I let the Black Ops doctors do whatever they wanted to my body for the sake of revenge."

Malon stared at the scars for a few moments before asking another question.

"Do you regret it?"

I shook my head.

"The day of reckoning is going to happen for the Eta Ali." I said. "And when it does, I'll be the tip of the spear. My face will be the last one many of their fighters ever see, and they will know fear like they've never known before."

There were a few moments in which Malon kept staring at me. I was a little worried, but she didn't seem horrified by the lesson in my past. Finally, she laid her head down on my chest and sighed.

"I'm glad you told me about this." She said. "I'm sorry if I asked too many questions."

I shrugged.

"I'd rather you know, even if you're technically not allowed to." I said. "I want things to be open between us. I don't feel like I need to hide things from you."

"Link, I already know the way I feel about you." She said. "We've all got problems. We've all got things we don't want other people to know. You can tell me anything you want, because I've already figured out who you are in here."

She thumped my chest, and I grinned.

"You don't care that I'm secretly a rage-driven maniac whose only goal in life is the pain and suffering of a misunderstood religious sect?"

"Not at all. In fact, I find this whole bioaugmentation thing quite fascinating." She said. "I wonder just how much got…augmented."

I laughed nervously, coming to the sudden realization that there was still a half-naked woman lying on top of me.

 _Am I supposed to follow that up with something? Is she…_

Malon leaned down and started kissing my neck. Her hands ran down my chest, feeling each crevice in between my abs before moving downwards.

 _Well she did tell me she isn't subtle._

She pulled away for a moment, looking at me with a mischievous grin.

"You don't have any experience with this, do you?"

I gulped.

"I… no."

"Over one hundred combat missions and Black Ops qualified, and your one weakness is girls?"

"Not girls." I said, shaking my head. "I mean, not other girls. Not that I've ever… It's just you. And helicopters. But mainly you. I don't know why."

I knew exactly why. It was because I really cared about this one and didn't want to screw it up.

"Good, so you won't have anything to compare me to." She said. "Sometimes I like to get into some kinky shit."

"You get into…what?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

There was a knock at the door, and I could hear Midna calling my name. Malon and I both sighed.

"Maybe later." She said, kissing me one more time.

We had work to do.

…

Zelda

One week later

…

The assault on the canyons had begun. The Hylian Army had mostly reorganized at Lake Hylia, driven the remaining artillery units into the canyons, and were pursuing them through the rubble. The battle was decidedly in our favor, displaying the apparent difference in experience between our soldiers and the Collective's troops.

Much of the EMP damage had now been repaired, as well, meaning that our troops had both air and armor support. Hylian artillery was raining fire down on the canyons, forcing the Collective into a panicked retreat. We were still lacking a lot of the infrastructure and automated defense mechanisms that Spud had shut down, but we would manage. In terms of pure military might, Hyrule had every advantage. My father had seen fit to stockpile enough ammunition to practically blow up the entire continent, so we weren't having any supply issues.

Behind the scenes, though, Arnav had landed over two million reserve troops in the desert after Link's attempt on his life. These troops had likely been in orbit waiting for the right moment. With the Hylian Navy controlling more of the space around the planet every day, it had apparently become the right time for them to drop to the surface. This threw a wrench in my plans, since my troops were still somewhat scattered and now wildly outnumbered, but this mission wasn't impossible. The Navy was currently working on taking the space above the desert, which would give us clear fire support if we needed it.

Arnav had two options now. He could withdraw and build up for a stronger multi-front attack, or he could try a blitzkrieg. A blitzkrieg seemed like his most likely course of action, since he still had over two million troops ready to attack at any point, as well as a significant amount of armor and air support. The Collective's functional weakness was their reliance on air insertion, though. Their troops could potentially break our defensive line if they traveled on foot through the rubble of the canyons, but it would be incredibly difficult. My soldiers were more skilled than the Collective's at infantry maneuvers, and our anti-air artillery far outmatched the Collective Air Force's abilities. This was by design, as many of my officers had foreseen this kind of scenario.

There was a permanent line being established at the edge of Lake Hylia leading to the desert canyons. The soldiers had taken to calling it Phase Line Black. Air defense would prevent troops from being flown past the line, and swarms of infantry would take advantage of the bottlenecked canyons in the area to ensure that the Collective's numbers were useless. Failing that, the final line of retreat would be Phase Line Black, where thousands of machine guns and heavy weapons were being dropped into fortified positions. We already had trucks making nonstop weapon, ammunition, and sand bag runs out to the area. The canyons were Arnav's only realistic means of escaping the desert with two million soldiers, so my generals were going to trap him there and wage a war of attrition. We were fighting a defensive battle on familiar ground, which gave us a distinct advantage.

In a worst-case scenario, our Army would try to do so much damage to the Collective Army that they could no longer continue the invasion of Hyrule even after overrunning Phase Line Black. In that event, the Navy would land its own troops and fight off the weakened remnants.

Opening the arms warehouse had turned out to be an excellent idea, despite the fact that it had sent Spud into mayhem. There were thousands of belt-fed machine guns that had been confiscated from private military contractors and underground criminal organizations over the years, and they were now being put to use to guard Phase Line Black. We had been able to arm and re-enlist every single able-bodied veteran of the military and the various police unions, putting the Hylian military at an estimated strength of five million men and women. We were far more spread out than the Collective, though, and only one million Hylian troops were currently guarding Phase Line Black.

For now, though, the Collective uprising had stalled and was forced to rely entirely on their ability to win this upcoming battle. We had already had several battalions insert themselves in surrounding valleys, setting up air defense in anticipation of the Collective's inevitable attempt to simply fly around the blockade in the canyon. The idea was to build up each defensive area at the same rate, which was proving to be extremely difficult. Reaching the western mountains undetected was a challenge, but the Army was doing an excellent job of adapting.

The only saving grace we had was that Arnav's intentions were to capture Castle Town, not raze it. Otherwise he would have simply had his destroyers turn their guns from space to the surface. Now they knew that our fleets were standing by on the other side of the planet. If Arnav were to change his mind and have Castle Town gunned down from space, it would be a matter of mutually assured destruction. Our fleets would move in immediately and destroy his blockade.

Midna hadn't contacted me again, so I guessed that she must have been deliberating with her War Council on the efficacy of getting involved in Hylian affairs. By this point, I wasn't expecting much besides the safe return of Link and Malon. We could certainly plan a simultaneous attack if the Twili were willing, but I doubted it would work. I wouldn't have helped Midna if our positions had been reversed.

But then again, I wasn't as driven by the legend of the Spirit of the Hero as the Twili were. Midna's entire attitude had changed when Link entered her realm. Now that I looked at old paintings, the Hero of Light bore a striking resemblance to Link. Their eyes were what intrigued me. They had the same intense glare, as if they were both peering into my soul through their respective images.

"It's uncanny, isn't it?" I asked Impa, who had taken over guard duties several hours ago. We were in my room watching a live-feed of a small space battle, so I had time to go through extraneous things like this.

"The similarities?" She asked, looking down at what I was doing.

I nodded.

"Of course it's uncanny." She said. "They both bear the Spirit of the Hero. The Link you know is a direct descendent of the Hero of Light. He's an avid protector of you, the daughter of the Royal Family, and from a distant land. Ask yourself, then, if this is a pure coincidence or the decrees of fate."

I looked down at the pictures, not completely willing to believe in an old legend. Most legends were only very loosely based on reality, if at all.

"Your doubt is the only thing standing in your way." Impa said. "I know with certainty that Link is the hero of this age, and will quell the evil that troubles Hyrule."

"But not even he could kill Arnav." I pointed out. "He's the best we've got."

"Give him time." Impa said. "Arnav may not be the driving force behind the evil plaguing Hyrule. Usually it's something much more sinister. Ganondorf, for example."

"Ganondorf is dead." I said. "The Hero of Light is said to have finally killed him."

"I'm well aware. But the ancient curse on the descendants of the Hero and the Royal Family remains. Dark magic follows your bloodline, and whenever it surfaces another hero is called forth to fight the battle and protect you."

I pondered Impa's words for a few minutes. She seemed so insistent, so believing. She wasn't the type to place faith in anything besides the Goddesses, so it gave her words a lot of merit. I didn't bother to ask why she so readily believed this legend to be true. It didn't matter.

"So you think that this situation has been fated since thousands of years ago?" I asked finally.

"It most certainly has, although the outcome is entirely in the hands of you and the Hero." Impa replied.

"And if we fail?" I wondered aloud.

"Then Hyrule will fall, and new heroes will rise to take the place of the one who failed. Hyrule will always return to the control of the Royal Family, and it will always be assisted by the Spirit of the Hero in its most desperate time of need."

This was a lot to take in. This meant that if I were to be killed, another descendant of the Royal Family's bloodline, of which there were many, would rise to the occasion. That situation would break the royal bloodline and rely on a bastard, but it was better than nothing. It could take years, but the Royal Family would eventually regain control, even if the direct line of descendants was broken. It was intriguing to know that, according to the legend, not even the death of the queen could end Hyrule's reign.

Despite what Impa said, though, it was just a legend. I preferred to place my faith in the strength of my empire's military.

A red light flashed on my tablet's screen, so I tapped it and rerouted the image to my TV.

"The Collective is advancing." Impa said, staring at the video that had appeared.

This video was being fed from underneath a Hylian gunship running reconnaissance at the edge of the desert. In the distance, I could see the Collective's troops advancing on the canyons on foot.

"I was right." I said. "They're going to blitzkrieg."

"Indeed." Impa said. "And Phase Line Black isn't ready yet. Our soldiers still need another day or two to fully entrench."

"That's assuming Arnav orders the attack without stopping at the edge of the canyons." I pointed out. "He'll likely allow his troops to rest, since they're traveling on foot. It would be extremely irresponsible to have them fight a better-trained force in confined spaces while they're tired. Unfortunately, Arnav's tactical decisions have always been sound, if just a little aggressive."

"Imagine the war from his perspective." Impa said. "He's fighting a larger, better-equipped, better-trained force that has won battle after battle. His initial offensive failed, and he's been fighting a defensive strategy ever since. He needed to strike out at the heart of the Hylian Empire if he ever had a chance of winning."

"Which he did, and is about to do again." I said.

"And now he needs to capitalize before we regroup and put up a solid fight." Impa continued. "Even if the odds are against him now, he has to try because he'll never have another chance like this. The Collective lives or dies in the next few days. They can't continue fighting a guerilla war and being pushed back out of occupied space."

That was a good point. If this wasn't the time for desperation on the Collective's part, I didn't know what was. If Arnav had decent intelligence, he would know we weren't quite ready for his onslaught yet.

"How long do you think until they reach the canyons?" I asked Impa.

"Army Command is saying it'll be about twelve to sixteen hours, depending on the pace."

I gulped, knowing that I wouldn't be sleeping at all from now until the end of the battle.

"I should go there."

Impa stared at me for a few seconds incredulously.

"I understand that morale is a powerful factor in this kind of battle, but how much good can you actually do?" She asked. "Is your presence worth the risk? You understand what would happen if you were killed."

"If we lose this battle, I'll be killed." I said. "I need to do all I can to make sure we win, so I'm leaving in two hours. Arrange transport for me, please."

Impa sighed, but nodded in agreement.

"Very well. I'll have it ready." She said. "I'll go with you."

"No, you need to stay here and organize some sort of rescue mission for Link and Malon when they're returned to the Arbiter's Grounds." I said. "I'll take Bo and Rusl."

"As you wish, your majesty."

I turned to my screen and watched the Collective troops advance for a few more seconds.

This was going to be the battle of a lifetime.

…

Link

…

If there was something I hated more than killing people, it was politics.

Even more so, though, I hated being a public spectacle. And yet Midna was parading me around the Twilight Realm as their "Hero." It was infuriating. As much as I appreciated being given a break from the field, this wasn't what I had in mind. To her credit, the Twilight Princess was attempting to persuade the War Council to assist Hyrule at the Arbiter's Grounds, which was the only reason I was going along with it.

As I smiled and waved at yet another gathered crowd outside the palace, I groaned slightly.

"Please save me from this." I said quietly to Malon. I wasn't going to receive any pity from her, though.

"It's for the greater good." She said. "Surely you can overcome your introverted ways for a little while longer."

"I can, but damn this is frustrating. Why is it that all it takes to convince the Twili to go to war is parading a Hylian through the streets?"

The vehicle I was sitting in was approaching the outer gate of the palace, which was a relief. The crowds weren't allowed inside, so I could disappear for a while. I was slightly concerned with sitting out in the open like this because I didn't know if there were any crazies among the Twili.

As it stood, these people displayed nothing but adoration for me. In a speech I had been forced to give the second day after I had arrived, I had had to remind them that I was nothing but a normal person, just like them. It had been an attempt at humility, but the Twili conveniently ignored it. I was still their "Hero."

Midna was waiting for me at the palace steps, an enormous grin stretching across her face.

"I see you're having a wonderful time still." She said as Malon and I dismounted the vehicle.

"Oh he's loving it." Malon said. "He just can't help himself when all these Twili girls are fawning over him."

This was another problem, albeit a developing one. Malon and Midna were proving to be quite the team, and they both seemed to enjoy generally harassing me. Not that Malon didn't do that anyways, but I couldn't think of good comebacks when Midna joined in.

"Well anyways, my scouts have just returned from Hyrule." Midna said. "The Hylians are being attacked, so I need you to go to the War Council. I was hoping to spend some time building up public support for intervention, but it appears I won't have that luxury. You're going to have to work some magic."

I stared at her for a few moments.

"Midna, I'm no politician." I said. "I have no idea where to begin. Do you have a speech or something I can just read off of? This is so sudden."

"We don't do that here, and there's less of a focus on formalities than you seem used to." Midna replied. "Just go in there and ask for help. It doesn't even have to be a lot of help."

Before I knew it, I found myself being ushered into the Council Chambers. I was already sweating bullets. This was an absolute nightmare. I had seen a little bit of what Zelda had to do, and never once envied her.

There were ten older Twili gathered in the chamber, who I assumed to be the War Council. Malon stayed in the back, but Midna walked up to the front with me.

"Seriously, I don't even know what to say." I told her quietly.

"Well, try this." Midna said. "Right now, according to Zelda, the Collective has two million ground troops gathered in the desert. They're all committed to breaking the Hylian line, and if we took back the Arbiter's Grounds for Hyrule right this moment, we would face minimal resistance."

"But how do I convince them to care?" I asked.

"Because if Hyrule fails, Arnav Nohansen might use the Mirror of Twilight to merge our worlds and kill us all. They won't listen to me because they're old codgers, but they might listen to a veteran like yourself."

I wasn't a veteran yet, but I had definitely seen more combat than any Twili. Perhaps she was right about that.

I sighed.

"All right, but don't expect any miracles."

I turned, seeing that the members of the Twili War Council were seated and waiting for me. This was so sudden, but I had to force myself to get over it. Apparently girls and helicopters weren't my only problems.

"I don't know how this works for the Twili, so you'll have to forgive me if I trip up on formalities." I said, stepping up to the podium at the front of the room. "I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Corporal Link White of the Hylian Navy. I'm one of the nine, or… eight Special Service Corps members, which is the Queen's personal guard. I'm a sniper, and I've completed one-hundred sixteen official combat missions during my five years in the Hylian Navy."

"Could you define what a sniper is, exactly?" One of the council members asked. "That doesn't translate well."

"Of course." I replied. "I use a large-bore rifle to eliminate targets at extreme ranges. For reference, with my Supernova rifle I could accurately shoot out to three thousand meters, and a few times I hit things at four thousand meters if I was firing from an elevated position."

"Meters?" Another council member asked.

"If you were to place someone at the hill in front of the palace, he'd be about a thousand meters away. I could accurately hit him if he were three times further than that."

Suddenly, I had their undivided attention.

"I didn't realize Hylians had technology that would allow them to equip infantry with that kind of firepower." The leftmost councilor said. "And you're here to petition for our help? We can't offer that kind of assistance."

"I'm here to petition for your help at the request of Queen Zelda and Princess Midna." I said. "Queen Zelda, in particular, believes that the Twili are uniquely able to aid us. Namely, the temporary enemy headquarters is at the Arbiter's Grounds, while their troops are committed to attacking Hylian forces on the eastern edge of the desert. If the Twili were to attack using their magic, the enemies of Hyrule would be caught off guard and quite defenseless."

"So rather than endangering her own men, Queen Zelda asks us to endanger ours?" Another councilor asked.

I looked at him seriously.

"Zelda did endanger her own men in an attempt to assassinate the enemy leader. We failed, and Malon and I were sent through the Mirror of Twilight."

"But what does this even have to do to us? As experienced as you are, you weren't able to defeat the enemy. What makes you think our soldiers, who have never been bloodied in battle, will fare any better?"

"A valid question." I said. "Consider this. The Twili can hide in shadows in Hyrule, but can still interact with the world normally. If you were to slip in under the cover of darkness, your soldiers could use that to their advantage. Furthermore, I'm sure you would be richly rewarded by the Queen for your assistance."

"What kind of reward are you talking about?"

Hopefully I hadn't dug myself into a hole with that one. I wasn't in a position to be making promises on Zelda's behalf.

"I can't say, but I've been around the Queen long enough to know that she holds her allies in high regard. Hyrule is in a time of desperate need, and I feel certain that when the war is over, she will be extremely receptive to any needs the Twili may have. The Hylian Empire controls a significant amount of territory in our galaxy, and we have many things we could offer."

"Let me just get this straight. Are you proposing a long-term military alliance between the Twili and the Hylians?" A different councilor asked.

I looked behind them to Midna, who was shaking her head vigorously. I had to butter this up, though.

"Somehow I doubt that the Twili need military assistance." I said. "Your country seems refreshingly peaceful. I'm also not in a position to propose any kind of alliance or treaty."

That seemed to have the right touch, leaving two of the councilors nodding in agreement.

"Then what are you proposing?" Another asked.

"I'm simply saying that you have two of the Queen's personal guards here listening to any requests you may have. Our desire is to build a lasting relationship with the Twilight Realm, and our word holds significant weight with the Queen. Malon and I want what you want, and will reflect that in our dialogue with Zelda."

One of the more amiable counselors chuckled to himself.

"I'd like one of those rifles that can shoot three times the distance to the hill."

I laughed.

"I won't promise an arms deal here, but maybe we can work something out later."

The councilors glanced around at each other, but I could tell they were conflicted.

"I realize that Twili intervention in Hylian matters is unprecedented." I said. "It's a product of time and separation, but we have the chance to change that today. At the very least, Hyrule will be indebted to the Twili. I think the greatest thing we could see develop out of this is a lasting friendship between our countries, rather than this cold indifference we've always displayed towards each other. Midna and Zelda both support it, so I'm asking all of you to, as well."

There was a pause before one of the councilors spoke.

"Will you lead our soldiers into the Arbiter's Grounds, then?"

I looked at him curiously. I hadn't actually thought that far ahead, but I had to make it seem like I had.

"Of course. Malon and I will be with whatever troops you send through the Mirror of Twilight. We both know the basic layout of the Arbiter's Grounds, and can draw out a map to distribute to your men."

I didn't want to be the first one through the mirror, since I felt certain that there were snipers waiting on the other side. They wouldn't be able to hit the Twili, but I would become a pincushion. Despite my armor's thick coverage, I could only withstand so much. I still had significant bruising from being shot so many times as I ran towards the Mirror of Twilight.

It looked as if a few of the councilors had been easier to convince than others. They turned to each other and spoke among themselves for a few minutes. There weren't any heated arguments, which was a good sign.

"I suppose we should take a vote." Midna said, walking up to the front of the room.

The councilors all nodded.

"All in favor of sending the raiding force to secure the Arbiter's Grounds for Hyrule?" She asked.

Four councilors raised their hands. I was a little disappointed, but that was how these things went. It was possible I could change their minds later, but Hyrule wasn't going to be getting immediate aid.

"All opposed?" Midna asked.

I was surprised when only two councilors raised their hands.

"Last chance to change motion." Midna said, counting to five on her fingers. "And now last chance to change neutral stance."

"Oh what the hell." One of the councilors who had abstained from voting said. "I'll support it. Our boys have been begging for some action for years, and it can't hurt to make an ally out of Hyrule."

"Final count five in favor, two opposed, three abstain." Midna said. "Effective immediately, the Twili will offer emergency assistance to Hyrule by disposing of their enemies at the Arbiter's Grounds. Final plans will be submitted to the War Council as soon as they're finalized."

The councilors stood up and left without a lot of drama. Apparently politicians didn't get as riled up here as they did in Hyrule. Once they were gone, Midna turned to me.

"Thanks for doing that." She said. "Before you came in here, all but one were solidly opposed."

"It's not like I did that much." I said, shrugging.

"On the contrary, your combat record speaks for itself." Midna said. "They listened because a grizzled warrior was in here asking for help, and not some dignitary or politician."

"Do I classify as 'grizzled?'" I asked, frowning. "I'm only twenty-three."

"Well… no, but it's the way they see you." Midna said. "Today, it worked in your favor. I'll be sure to let Zelda know how much you just helped her. Would you like to go with me to contact her?"

"I guess she'd like to hear from us." I said, looking around for Malon. She wasn't in the room anymore, which was a little strange, so I just followed Midna without her.

We made our way upstairs to a small room where a Twili soldier sat guarding a small Mirror of Twilight. He nodded and left, leaving us alone.

"This might take a little while." Midna said. "Zelda needs the help of several mages to maintain the connection. It takes a lot of energy from Hyrule's side for whatever reason."

I nodded and watched as she activated the mirror. A brief image of Hyrule Field appeared, where there were thousands of gathered soldiers. I peered closer, and a few of the closer soldiers appeared to notice me. A few seconds later, though, the connection was cut.

"That's as much magic as the mirror can store." Midna explained. "Whoever is tasked with carrying it will take it to Zelda, and then she will activate it again. Unfortunately this is a time consuming process. What's curious is that usually her mirror is in the dungeon of the castle, not outside."

"That's Lake Hylia." I said. "I'd imagine she was expecting to need to contact you, but wanted to go to the front lines."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, simply staring at the mirror. I glanced over at Midna a few times, figuring this would be a good time to ask about something I had been pondering.

"Why do you look so much different than the rest of the Twili? I've only seen a few who look like you. Pretty much everyone in the government and a lot of Twili living in the rich areas of the city, but that's it." I said.

"Are these the things that keep you up at night?"

"Well it's certainly not nightmares of all the people I've killed." I replied, only half-joking. "Do I get an answer or is this a trade secret of the Twili?"

"Well, I suppose you could say I'm a different species than the rest of the Twili." Midna said. "But that's not entirely true. I hate explaining this, because it makes me sound like an elitist asshole. Essentially what happened is that when our people were banished to the Twilight, they divided into two groups. The Interlopers were one group, and the banished criminals were another. Each of these groups married and reproduced with each other, rarely mixing. It's like how Hylians have different skin color, for example. Except this is on a much more drastic scale, because the Interlopers never mixed with the run-of-the-mill-criminal class for any reason. The Interlopers also had much longer lifespans due to their magic, so there's been less genetic variation in my ancestors than with the regular Twili."

"And so you're the result of the Interloper line, whereas most Twili are the product of the regular criminals?"

"Goddesses, I hate that." Midna said. "The Interlopers, as you can imagine, were generally more intelligent than your typical criminal. Because of that, we became even smarter over time, whereas the rest of the Twili didn't necessarily have that benefit."

"That's textbook evolution." I said. "It may be inconvenient for the regular Twili, but that doesn't make it any less true. They seem to have done well enough for themselves regardless."

"Ninety percent of the population is Twili, and ten percent is comprised of Interlopers. It's extremely lopsided in government, though, because the descendants of the Interlopers have always been the ruling class."

"Is that by design?" I asked. Midna shook her head.

"The people elect their councilors, not me. Most Twili don't really care about the difference between Interlopers and everyone else, so it's not a problem in modern-day society. Most Interlopers don't acknowledge the difference, either. Really the intelligence gap is only minimal, and only visible when you look at the big picture." She said. "It's just that the Interlopers ended up working in public service. It's how our society functions. We're still Twili, in the end. I don't think there's been a species-based conflict for several thousand years. Zant probably would have started one, but he was stopped by your predecessor."

I pondered that for a moment. If the legends were to be believed, the same Hero of Twilight that had trained me in the forest had saved the Twili. This seemed to match up with Twili history, which spoke to the legend's accuracy. This must have been thousands of years ago, but Hyrule had done a decent job of recording its history since its founding.

"You guys seem to revere the Hero of Light." I said. It seemed rather obvious, but Midna was excited to talk about it.

"He's the most legendary of all our heroes." She said. "Think about it for a moment, though. He wasn't even a Twili, and he risked his life to save us all. Zant would have merged our world with Hyrule and enslaved us if not for him. So of course we revere the line of hero. He was a complete stranger who didn't even belong to this world, and risked his life to save us."

I believed the story, but I doubted the purity of his intentions. There was no way he had done that for purely selfless reasons. During my time under the Hero's instruction, however brief it had been, he had never struck me as the type to risk his life for nothing in return.

"Wasn't the Twilight Princess traveling with him?" I asked curiously.

"Yes." Midna said. "That's the other half of the legend. In return for the Hero saving the Twili, the Twilight Princess returned to help him finish off Ganondorf."

Pieces were starting to come together for me. Only those with deep regrets about their lives wandered into the Lost Woods and became a Stalfos in death. The Hero of Twilight's deep regret was obvious.

"He was in love with the Twilight Princess." I said.

Midna stared at me for a moment, but I couldn't read her easily.

"How do you figure that?"

"I've met the guy, because he wandered into the woods and became a Stalfos." I replied. "That happened because the Mirror of Twilight was shattered, separating him from the woman he had fallen in love with. While my existence proves that he eventually settled down and had kids, I doubt he ever forgot about the Twilight Princess. He now leads a lonely, undead life in the Lost Woods until he finds a way to alleviate his regrets."

The effect of that statement on Midna was far more pronounced than I had expected. She looked shocked at the revelation, even though it was just an educated guess on my part.

"There's… There's no way." She said, horrified. "He's still alive, suffering from the regret of being unable to be with her? It's been thousands of years in Hyrule."

"Thousands of years is nothing to a Stalfos." I said. "If the regret is still there, so is the soul bound to it. Furthermore, if a Stalfos is killed before it moves past its regrets, the soul wanders lost for the rest of eternity."

"Well that's morbid." Midna said. "So there's nothing we could do for him?"

"Not that I know of, since that individual Twilight Princess is long-dead."

Midna stared at me for a few moments.

"So much chaos was caused when that mirror was shattered." She said. "Centuries of being unable to contact each other set Hylian-Twili relations back by, well, centuries. I think it was six or seven hundred years that it took Hyrule to develop another way to contact us. Even then, it took another century or so to put the Mirror of Twilight back together."

I squinted at her.

"How long do the Interlopers live?" I asked.

The mirror activated, interrupting my suspicions.

"Midna?" I heard Zelda's voice saying through the mirror.

"I'm here." Midna said, pouring magical energy into the connection. I could now see Zelda, who had donned a set of TALOS III armor and looked like she was ready to fight next to her troops.

"What's going on… Oh, Link!"

I waved from behind Midna, glad that I had at least been acknowledged.

"What's going on over there?" Midna asked. "How's the war going?"

"The Collective is attacking at Lake Hylia soon, so we're still preparing." Zelda replied. "They'll be here in a few hours, but that means the Arbiter's Grounds will be relatively unguarded. Were you able to convince your government to help?"

"Your hero spoke to the War Council today and had them convinced to send help in a matter of minutes." Midna replied. "You're lucky he had help from me, because he's obviously not a politician."

Zelda glanced over at me, the hint of a smile crossing her face.

"No he's not, I'm aware of that. What kind of help can we expect?"

"The War Council should be approving some form of a plan in the next few hours, but it sounds like it's going to be a raid on the Arbiter's Grounds as soon as possible. That's all that was authorized in the vote, so don't expect any further involvement."

"That will help, regardless." Zelda said. "Thank you, Midna. And Link. We've got our hands full here, so it'll help to not have to worry about reinforcements. Our fleets are on standby and will be liberating the planet the moment the real battle starts. Unfortunately we don't have any intelligence on Arnav Nohansen's location, so your forces could run into him."

She looked over at me.

"Link, Impa wanted me to pass along that if you run into Arnav again, you should use the Master Sword."

I nodded, having already realized my mistake during the week.

"If you find out where he is, please let me know." I said. "I have a job to finish."

"Of course." She replied, nodding. "I still have complete trust in your ability to complete this mission, regardless of what happened previously. Do you think you can handle him close up?"

"Probably not, but I'll have Malon's help." I said. "He can still be slowed by rifle fire, so we'll develop a workable plan."

"Very well. Get it done." Zelda said. "Arnav Nohansen must die, regardless of if it's a cold-blooded sniping or an honorable duel to the death. I'll have your Supernova delivered to the Arbiter's Grounds once your raid is over."

"Send something for Malon, too, please." I said, impressed with her attention to detail.

She nodded, and I stepped back.

"I'll contact you again after the Arbiter's Grounds have been cleared." Midna said. "Expect it soon. The Twili don't waste time."

The connection to Zelda cut off, and Midna turned to me.

"Go get ready. I feel certain that military movement is already starting."

I nodded and moved to the door. As I opened it, though, I paused.

"How long do Interlopers live?" I asked, determined to get an answer this time.

Midna sighed.

"Your suspicions are obvious." She said. "You believe I'm the same Midna who was the companion of the Hero of Light?"

I nodded.

"There's a reason the Interlopers have only changed very slightly over time." She said. "We live until we are killed in battle or by disease, which is extremely uncommon. Because of that, only several dozen generations of Interlopers have lived in the Twilight, as opposed to thousands of generations of the regular Twili."

She paused uncertainly.

"Furthermore, time flows somewhat differently here. It's not linear when compared to Hyrule. Sometimes it's flowing faster, and other times slower. These cycles happen over thousands of years, and right now Hyrule's time is flowing faster than ours, although it's not fast enough to make a huge difference in your perception. It's been a week in Hyrule since you left, but only a few days here."

"So you're the same Midna?" I asked, wanting to hear the answer.

Midna sighed.

"Yes, I am." She replied. "I shattered the original Mirror of Twilight and left the Hero of Light without any way to contact me. I'm the reason he's wandering in the Lost Woods as a Stalfos."

I stared at her for a few moments, unsure of what to do with that information I had just been given. It would likely be significant to the Hero of Light, but I wasn't in any place to let him know that Midna was still alive. For now, I couldn't do anything at all.

"Thank you for telling me that." I said, nodding.

"Don't think of sending the Hero of Light on a quest after me." Midna said. "I'll take care of that on my own once this war is over in Hyrule."

"I won't interfere." I said.

"Good. Now go get ready."

…

When I walked in the bedroom, I found Malon curled up in a ball on the bed. She was shaking and shivering, so I sat down and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked tentatively.

The only response I got was her cold, clammy hand reaching up and wrapping around mine. I frowned, realizing she was having a panic attack. This was something I'd dealt with many times before in the Navy, but I was surprised it was happening to Malon. There wasn't a way to stop the attack, so I just laid down next to her and wrapped her in my arms.

"It's okay, you're safe." I said quietly.

I laid with her for a few minutes as she shook. She didn't try to get up and run, which was fortunate. As far as panic attacks went, this was one of the less severe ones I had seen.

Ten minutes later, she was finally able to lay still and breathe normally. I didn't say anything, knowing she'd speak when she was ready. Eventually she used the blanket to wipe the tears from her face, and then turned to face me.

"Thank you." She whispered, burying her face into my chest. "I'm sorry, I just… we've been in so much combat over the past month. It finally caught up to me once I realized what we were about to have to do."

"Hopefully it'll be over soon." I said. "If the Collective can't break the Hylian line, they're finished. Plus our fleets are going to attack theirs the moment the battle starts. Just one more battle and we could be done."

"What is 'done?'" She asked. "Do you know how long it's been since I had a month I didn't get shot at? Until you came to the SSC, I was the new guy. I went on every special mission and took the brunt of the hard work. If there was someone trying to kill one of us, it was me taking the hit. We live in a brutal world, and we've both seen the worst of it. I'm just tired of it all."

I held her a little tighter, glad that I wasn't the only one who had trouble coping with the endless combat. Malon had always seemed so stoic, but I supposed that this was inevitable. Hardly anyone stayed in past ten years if they didn't have to, with most people leaving after four. Malon would be considered old by now if she had stayed in the regular Army, and I would be getting to that point in the Navy.

"Why don't you retire?" I asked. "Since your time in the SSC counts double towards retirement, you'll have crossed the ten-year threshold by now."

"I've thought about it, but what would I even do?" Malon replied. "I'm the daughter of a notorious drug dealer whose only real skill is killing people. The only place that makes me a badass is the military. And I'm not going to be a police officer, because they get shot at just as often as we do. More, in some areas."

"Well I hadn't exactly thought that far ahead." I admitted. "But I'm sure you could come up with something."

She shrugged.

"We need to survive this war before I think about retiring. Do you have a plan for Arnav?"

Back to business quickly. Malon wasn't going to sit around and mope.

"I'm going to find him. You shoot him to slow him down, and then I'll stab him with the Master Sword, as per Impa's new instructions." I replied.

"Good, I like it." Malon said.

I nodded, staring at the wall and pondering the current situation. This could go horribly wrong again. We didn't have any intelligence on where Arnav was, so even finding him would be a hassle.

Then there was the chance that his army would fight on without him, seeing as they were all avid supporters.

I had to give Arnav credit where it was due. He had created a wildly loyal base of followers. To them, nothing he did was wrong. He had painted himself as the only person who could effectively lead the empire, and his movement had quickly turned violent. For whatever reason, people were willing to fight and die in an effort to put him in power.

Would that kind of fanatical devotion stop if Arnav were to be killed? Or would he just become a martyr?

I'd find out soon enough. Malon and I nodded off for a while, until there was a knock at the door. Midna entered, pausing for a moment and staring at us.

"The raid party is ready to go." She said. "We're waiting on you two."

I stood up, and Malon followed suit.

"We?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm going. It's traditional for the Twilight Princess to supervise any battles conducted by our military, although it's been centuries since I've had to do so." Midna said. "Don't bother arguing over my personal safety. It's part of the risk of going to war, and something the council takes into account when authorizing the use of military force."

I nodded, realizing that I'd have to accept that aspect of their culture.

"You ready?" I asked Malon.

She nodded, sheathing the sword the Twili had made her. As she strapped it onto her back, I stepped into my armor and activated it. It closed around me, and the helmet sealed with a hiss. I switched the camouflage pattern to the same one I had used in the desert before, and primed the optical camouflage generator.

Malon put on her helmet, foregoing any camouflage and changing her colors to blue and white. It wouldn't do much good in concealment, but it was wildly patriotic. It was in strange moments like this that I found her to be the most attractive. Moments when I would have least expected it.

I just hoped we would survive long enough to enjoy this more often.

…

 **Summary of edits**

 **Reduced sexuality throughout the chapter**

 **Midna is the same Twilight Princess from TP, and it's revealed that Hyrule and Twili time don't line up perfectly**

 **The Collective move in to attack in this chapter instead of chapter 12**


	12. Part 1 Chapter 12

**This is the final edited chapter for Part 1. Old readers, thanks for bearing with me through this process. Many of you may not have read the original chapter 12 when I posted it, since I started the edit two or three days later. After this I'll begin posting new Part 2 chapters, which I'm estimating won't be as long as Part 1.**

 **Shout out to Bost for submitting my 100** **th** **review on this story. Now that I'm back over 100k words and I have 100 reviews, I'm hoping to pull in some more readers.**

Chapter 12

Link

I was in absolute awe at how fast the Twili had mobilized. It had only been an hour since the decision was made to act, and several hundred of them were gathered on the hill in front of the palace looking over a rough sketch of the Arbiter's Grounds I had made. There was a large portal with a light staircase leading up to it. I could only assume that this meant the mirror had been activated.

Midna was standing in front of the gathered soldiers giving a short speech, but otherwise it looked like everyone was ready to go. These Twili were quite a bit different than the ones I had seen. They were all of the Interloper race, and wore full suits of black armor. Their weapons seemed to be energy-based, which could pose a challenge in trying to take out the Collective troops. Regardless, they were intimidating.

"This is the first battle the Twili have fought in centuries." I heard Midna saying.

As she continued, I turned to Malon. Her hands were shaking, so I discreetly took them.

"Everything's going to be fine." I said, trying to reassure her.

"I… I know." She said. "This is weird. I've never had this happen before, no matter what I'm about to walk into."

"It's that retirement itch." I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Malon grinned half-heartedly, but obviously couldn't take her mind off the battle we were about to fight. I gave her a quick hug, and then turned to face the portal. I was ready to get this fight over with.

I was hoping that Arnav had remained at the Arbiter's Grounds when his army marched out, but I knew that was too much to ask for. I had to be prepared for the possibility, but he had always been present at large-scale battles in the past. This was the largest battle of the entire war, so I'd likely have to travel to the conflict zone and sneak past the rear lines to find him.

The Twili had started moving up the staircase, and barreled through the gateway in pairs when they were prompted. Midna stayed to the side, hurrying them along. Malon and I followed at the back of the line, both hoping that the battle was going well on the other side.

It took less than a minute for all of the Twili troops to get through, and I found myself standing next to Midna.

"You two ready?" She asked, taking a deep breath. I nodded, and then drew my sword. We all stepped through the portal at once, leaving the Twilight Realm behind.

I was immediately met with a blast of warm air and the sound of battle. It was dusk, which was fortunate for the Twili. A bullet whizzed past my face almost as soon as I began to move, exploding as it struck the massive obsidian rock.

Whoever had shot at me was using a _very_ large rifle.

"Let's move!" I yelled to Malon and Midna, dragging them behind the block that the Mirror of Twilight projected on. There were still Collective soldiers on the other side, but they seemed occupied shooting at the fleeting shadows of the Twili.

"Where do we go?" Midna asked, her eyes wide. She was gripping her black sword tightly, obviously very scared.

"We need to go to the opposite side of the plaza. There's a staircase leading down to a door." I yelled over the noise of the battle. "Once we get in there, we'll be able to use our swords. I'll run, and you'll follow after me. Malon will be behind you, so don't look back. No matter what happens, don't stop moving."

Midna nodded, and I shoved her out of the way as I saw a Collective soldier take a pot shot at us. The obsidian behind where Midna's head had been exploded, flinging pieces of rock into our faces. The soldier was quickly dispatched by the Twili, but I wasn't going to continue to take chances.

"You ready?" I asked, turning to Malon. She nodded.

I took a quick peek around the corner. The courtyard in front of the Mirror of Twilight seemed about as peaceful as it could be during a battle, so I knew this was our chance.

"Count to three, and then start running towards me as fast as you can." I said to Midna.

With that, I leapt from behind the rock and engaged my TALOS suit's hydraulic assist, rocketing across the courtyard and leaping over the bodies of several Collective soldiers. Once I reached the stairs, I slid down them so that just the top of my head was visible to Midna. She flung herself next to me, and Malon was close behind.

The Twili radio communications exploded unexpectedly.

"Alpha target sighted and confirmed. Fleeing east in an aircraft." I heard the Twili combat controller call through the link.

Arnav was here, but he was retreating to the canyons. I would be unable to catch up in time.

"Fire all heavy weaponry at the aircraft, but do _not_ pursue." I said.

Several rockets fired into the sky, but I couldn't see Arnav's helicopter past all the pillars and structures on the roof of the Arbiter's Grounds. I couldn't do anything else, so I redirected my attention back to the current situation.

"Are you two okay?" I asked Malon and Midna. They both nodded, so I crept down to the door, my sword held at the ready. We had a decent amount of cover here, although I could hear a gunship approaching in the distance. We couldn't be on this ledge when that thing got here, so I grabbed the door's handle and gave it a twist.

"Shit, it's locked." I said out loud, looking at the frame. The entire thing seemed to be made out of steel, which didn't bode well for my ability to break it down.

"Move." Malon said, pushing past me.

She put her hand up to the door and closed her eyes, concentrating magical energy in her palm. With a bright flash and a deafening bang, the door was ripped off its hinges and flung down the hallway behind it. It appeared that three Collective soldiers had been standing somewhere in its trajectory, judging by the copious amounts of blood they had left behind.

I ushered Midna through, being sure to protect her from anything that might come up behind us. It was kind of a hassle to have to worry about her, but I understood the political message that was being sent with her presence. Fortunately the Twili seemed content in trusting Malon and I to guard her, which allowed us to move quickly and quietly.

We made our way downstairs, ignoring any fights going on between the Collective and the Twili. It looked as if the Collective soldiers had been caught completely off guard, which was a good thing. Some of the greatest victories in Hylian history had only been possible due to surprise attacks like this.

"Where are we going?" Malon called back as we headed towards the front of the Arbiter's Grounds. She deflected a burst of enemy fire with her magic, and then released a wave of energy towards the Collective soldier who had tried to kill her. He was flung back into a wall, a loud crack announcing his death.

"Let's hijack a gunship." I yelled up to her. She nodded in approval, and we set off again.

When we reached the dining room, we stopped in the darkness of the hallway. The whole place was a disaster, with dozens of Twili and Collective troops trading gunfire. It would be a death sentence to run through the middle of that.

"We can't go through there. Is there another way around?" Midna asked, mirroring my thoughts.

"No, I don't think so." Malon said. "This place isn't exactly user-friendly."

I looked around at the Collective soldiers on the other side of the room, who had flipped over tables to block the shots from the Twili energy weapons. They were alternating suppressing fire, which meant that ammo was a concern. Now that I looked carefully, most of them were using their handguns.

"I'm going to charge them." I said. "This armor should be able to easily stop a handgun round. Those rifles will sting, so I'm going to go for those first."

Malon nodded, not bothering to argue with my cold logic. In combat, she was all business.

I charged around the corner, throwing a knife into the face of one of the Collective soldiers who still had rifle ammunition. By the time a few of the others registered what I was doing, I was already leaping over their overturned tables. In the sudden confusion, the Twili soldiers got off a few clean shots and dispatched several of the enemies.

I quickly went to work with the Master Sword, smashing a rifle out of the hands of a soldier and stabbing him through the chest. I then worked down the line, eviscerating any Collective soldiers that the Twili hadn't yet killed.

"Link!" Malon yelled.

I turned just in time to see one of the injured soldiers pull the pin out of a grenade and hold it up in the air. Malon was moving towards him, caught in the middle of the room as she had charged in to help.

I didn't even have time to think as I drew my handgun. I fired a single shot, blowing the fuse out of the top of the grenade and taking three of the soldier's fingers in the process. Malon stomped on his neck, snapping it with the heel of her boot. I breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that there were several hundred things that could have gone wrong in the last few seconds.

"Maybe a little less heroics and a little more _not_ dying." Malon said just loud enough for me to hear. "But I appreciate what you just did. Now let's go grab a gunship."

I looked over at Midna to ensure she was safe. Aside from being a little stunned, she looked fine, so I gestured towards the door.

"There's only one room left before we're outside again." I said. "You ready to go?"

Midna nodded, so I turned around and headed towards the door. Malon took the rear and we burst into the next room. It appeared that the Collective soldiers here had already been defeated, removing our last barricade to leaving the building.

The Arbiter's Grounds suddenly began to shake violently, knocking me off my feet. Rocks started chipping off the ceiling, beginning to form cracks. Even inside, I could hear the noise from the explosions.

"They're bombing their own troops!" I heard Malon yell.

Somehow, this wasn't the least bit surprising. Arnav Nohansen had proven time and time again that he only cared for his own ascent to power. As soon as the battle had begun, he had likely sent his bombers back from the edge of the desert to level the Arbiter's Grounds and kill the invading force, even at the cost of his own men. Any leftover gunships would likely be bombed, as well.

Once the shaking had subsided, I stood up and made my way over to the massive arch that opened to the desert. The sounds of combat had mostly ceased, meaning that the Twili had either captured or killed all of the Collective soldiers, or the bombs had leveled everything. Fortunately, it was apparent that capturing a gunship was no longer necessary, since the Twili had made quick work of the Collective.

This was a little disappointing to me. As much as I hated killing people, I had essentially just been running away from combat for the majority of the battle. The Twili had done all of the work, and I had been left to defend Midna.

I stared up into the sky, hoping that the bombers would only make a single pass. I couldn't see anything, and the shaking had stopped. After several minutes more of taking cover, I decided it was safe to move around. Malon was already ahead of me, though.

"Link, there's something in here."

I turned to see her staring into a side doorway. Midna was looking over her shoulder in awe.

"Something that will shoot at us?" I asked.

She shrugged.

"Come see for yourself."

I walked over to the doorway and looked in. Judging by the scorch marks clinging to the walls and ceiling, it looked as if the Collective had recently blasted this area out of the rock. It was enormous, and had four hangar doors that led outside. My eyes locked on to the line of four aircraft that were situated at the doors. They were easily recognizable.

"Those are copies of the U-53 prototype fighter jet." I said, staring at the aircraft in awe. "They're supposed to be the fastest, most lethal fighters ever created. The Imperial Defense Board put upwards of 500 billion rupees into research and development for this thing."

Malon was already thirsting.

"You think I could fly one?"

"I don't know." I said, shrugging. Those wings rotate, so you take off with it like a gunship or helicopter, and you fly it like a jet. Then if you need to shoot at something for an extended period of time, you have to fly it like a gunship again. But if you want to go into stealth mode, you fly it up into space and it even has an FTL drive. It's a mess."

Malon was practically drooling by this point.

"That's literally the coolest thing I've ever heard." She said. "Since when could you fit an FTL drive on a jet?"

I laughed to myself.

"Just wait until you get that 45mm Gatling Gun turning. It really puts the 30mm to shame."

Malon looked around the room, making sure it was empty before she slipped in and walked towards the fighters. She reached up and carefully ran her hand down the wing of the first one. I checked around, as well, skeptical of the pile of ration boxes in the corner. That was an excellent place to hide.

Once I had cleared the entire hangar, I stepped up to the cockpit of the jet and turned on its radio. The Collective chatter was overwhelming, and they were obviously preparing to attack soon. I pressed a few buttons, changing the frequency over to the Hylian channel. After I plugged in my TALOS suit's decryption key, I was allowed into the Hylian BattleNet.

"Hylian command, this is Ghost-six reporting from the Arbiter's Grounds."

An AI greeted me.

"Identity confirmed, Ghost-six. Routing you to the queen's radio."

A single beep informed me that the Zelda's radio operator was now listening.

"Hylian command, this is Ghost-six reporting from the Arbiter's Grounds." I repeated.

"Ghost-six, this is Hylian high command. We need a status update on the battle."

"The Collective has been driven out of the Arbiter's Grounds, and Alpha target is fleeing towards Phase Line Black." I said. "If you've got any available air assets, he should be halfway there by now."

"General's staff has been notified, Ghost-six. What else?"

"Requesting follow-on mission." I said.

"Follow-on mission is to pursue Alpha target and engage."

"Copy, high command. Requesting update on the status of the battle."

"The ground battle hasn't begun, but the space battle has. Hylian Navy currently in full engagement and gaining space on the Collective blockade. Hylian space victory is predicted within the next four hours, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

"Solid copy, high command. Ghost-six out." I said, and then looked up at Malon. "Let's not waste any time."

The space battle had begun, which meant one of two things. Zelda could have ordered the attack, or the Collective destroyers could have turned towards the surface and prepared to fire on the Hylian ground troops. The reality of this was suddenly hitting me. There hadn't been a serious space battle for several decades simply because Zelda and her generals had never wanted to commit to killing that many people and potentially losing a lot of the Empire's own ships.

The war had just entered a new stage. To preserve Hyrule's existence, the King's Collective needed to be stamped out with a decisive and overwhelming victory. I was surprised that Arnav had allowed himself to be trapped in the desert like this by a weakened, disoriented Hylian Army, but Zelda's generals were geniuses. For many generations, the Royal Family had done their absolute best to prevent politics from creeping into the military, and the results were showing now. Good commanders were developed by good commanders above them, and a brown-nosing mess of a military wasn't conducive to that kind of an environment.

"This means the ground attack will begin sooner rather than later." I said. "Malon, do you think you can fly us out of here in one of those?"

She nodded.

"I can do it."

I turned to Midna.

"What will you do?"

"I'll stay here and guard the Mirror of Twilight." She replied. "If the Collective is driven back and we can't keep them out of the Arbiter's Grounds, I'll order a retreat and destroy the Mirror."

I nodded, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"Get a body count of Twili and Collective soldiers, as well as a count of prisoners." I said, and then turned back to Malon.

"It's time to cut off the head of the snake." I said. "Let's fly."

"Wait."

I turned to see who the new voice belonged to. A short, hooded figure stood in the doorway holding a Supernova rifle and armed with a sword.

"Sword!" Malon said, running over to her. "Where the hell have you been? Nobody's heard from you since you disappeared."

"Long story." Sword muttered.

"You know her?" Midna asked me quietly, obviously nervous at the sight of the mysterious figure. I nodded.

"She's another of Zelda's guards." I said. "She never takes off her hood or helmet, so we don't even know who she is. But you don't need to worry about her, she's just here to bring me that rifle."

I walked over to Sword and took the Supernova appreciatively.

"Thanks." I said. "I won't even ask what you went through to get that here. I don't know how I was going to make it to Arnav without this thing."

"Don't rely on being able to." Sword replied. "I scouted their positions over the past week. I heard that Arnav escaped the Arbiter's Grounds over the radio, so he's going to be lost in a sea of two million Collective soldiers. There's no way you'll find him."

"How are the rear defenses?" I asked.

"Negligible when I passed through, but they'll be bolstered now that the Arbiter's Grounds have been attacked.

"So we can assume that they'll be defending themselves against an infantry attack." Malon said. "We could fly in right now and try to gun him down with one of these fighters."

"They've got air defenses." Sword said. "Arnav will have made it past the protected zone by now."

"And I don't suppose we could have one of those destroyers up there just drop a MAC round on him, could we?" I asked.

"Not until the battle up top is already over, and those can last for days if history is any indication." Malon said. "Besides, I think the Navy's ship commanders would balk at the idea of using a MAC cannon to hit the planet again. Let's not even mention Zelda. The damage to the land would go from being unprecedented to irreversible."

"You'd think that the Navy would have a smaller MAC cannon than that." I said, shaking my head. "So space attacks are out, air attacks probably won't work, and shooting the bastard doesn't work. That leaves me with one option."

"And what's that?" Malon asked.

"Malon, you'll fly us to the cliffs overlooking the Collective position, but still far enough away to not get hit by the air defenses. Sword and I will find Arnav with the TALOS facial recognition program and then close in on him once the battle starts."

"The cliffs are guarded." Sword said.

"I'll arrange for a Hylian attack on the position to clear the area before we get there." I said, feeling certain that there was probably a plan already developed by this point.

"We'll keep in contact as best we can." I continued. "Best case scenario, we'll be able to slip under the air defense radar and spot Arnav. If Sword and I fail or don't get there on time, try to take out Arnav with the Gatling Gun or a bomb. If you can get within three kilometers at top speed, you should be able to get a good pass in on him before the air defenses even turn in your direction."

"That's assuming I can figure out how to fly this thing in time." She replied, looking back at the fighter.

"Hell no."

With that, I sat down on the ground to take a breather and radio in to get the cliffs cleared.

The real battle was just about to begin.

…

Night had fallen by the time we were actually moving.

Extraction was going to be an issue. If I actually managed to assassinate Arnav, the chances of a simple escape were minimal. I would have to count on my optical camouflage to be able to cover me enough to escape through the chaos.

This was going to have to be a quick ambush. I had done it a few times throughout the course of my career, but it had never been my first pick for assassinations. Arnav Nohansen was also far more skilled in close combat than me, so I'd never survive if I failed to neutralize him immediately.

Malon was still toying with the Collective jet, but had already established reliable communications with the Hylian forces on the outer rim of the desert and gotten the GPS system working. She was going to do a high-altitude pass over the Collective assault force and find a spot on the cliffs for me to observe from. If I failed, she would dive and unload the Gatling Gun into Arnav's general vicinity. A single one of those rounds hitting him would vaporize his body and, hopefully, nullify his insane healing abilities.

It was basically a suicide mission, because she wouldn't be able to escape the air defenses. If she ejected, she would land in the middle of their forces.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but we were both willing to do whatever it took to finish this fight. This had become far bigger than either of us.

"I'm ready to go." Malon said.

"You can really fly that?" I asked skeptically.

"I'm not saying it will be smooth, but it'll work." She replied, punching the ignition button. "I'll find a good spot to drop both of you off, if you can cram into the navigator's seat."

I looked at Sword, who had remained completely silent since our last conversation. She only nodded.

I crawled up into the navigator's position in the jet, taking my seat and buckling in before Sword nimbly climbed in after me. She sat on my legs, barely fitting in the cramped space. It was a good thing she was small, since this cockpit barely fit two people.

As Malon spun the engines up and remotely opened the hangar door, I discreetly examined Sword. She was still an extreme mystery to me. I had never seen her face, even when she wasn't wearing a helmet. Now that she was crammed up against me, though, I realized that she was tiny. Her boots had three-inch lifts on the soles, but she was still below average height. She also couldn't weigh more than 90 pounds, which made me wonder how she ever got in the military in the first place. Based on the way she fought, though, her size was actually an advantage. That was likely the deciding factor in her weapon of choice. The key to wielding a katana effectively was incredible speed.

The jet took off with a lurch, blasting the hangar behind us with jet wash. The world went black for a few moments.

I woke up with a start, seeing Malon chuckling in the front seat.

"My bad, the G's got pretty high there. I wasn't expecting this jet to be able to accelerate that quickly."

"Did you black out, too?" I asked, rubbing my forehead where a headache had just popped up.

Malon shook her head.

"I know a few tricks, and I've done this hundreds of times. Plus, this seat is designed to artificially reduce gravity after 4 G's. Apparently yours wasn't."

Sword squirmed uncomfortably as she woke up, but said nothing. I looked out the cockpit window, watching the sand dunes scream by. We were flying fairly low to avoid detection by the air defenses, but this jet could easily keep its velocity.

"It won't take long to get to the drop point." Malon said. "I'm putting you down twenty kilometers from the canyon, and then I'll get up into the exosphere. Hopefully that'll be far enough from the battle going on in orbit where I won't have to deal with that. I'll find you a good spot and then start scanning for Arnav, although it'll be difficult to pick him up from high altitudes. Once you close in on him, I'll provide some explosive distractions to cover your escape. Based on my GPS, air defenses are covering ten kilometers away from the line. You'll need to get twelve or thirteen kilometers away from them if I'm going to be able to safely land."

"That's not very far." I said. "I figured the defenses could reach further."

"Keep in mind the last thing they expect is an aerial insertion behind their lines. Why would they devote huge amounts of anti-air resources to defending their rear when the bulk of the Hylian force is in the front?"

"Good point." I replied. "Have we really gotten that much of our aircraft up and running again? Is an aerial assault a legitimate threat?"

"They wouldn't tell me over the radio for obvious reasons, but I think so." Malon said. "After all, that's the bread and butter of the Hylian military. Overwhelming air power with highly trained infantry units. I don't think this type of battle is the type that we've ever trained for, though. It could be a challenge."

I knew that from experience. Hylian military operations were usually quick and precise, such as discreetly taking a single ship at a time. I had trained extensively in guerilla warfare as a foot soldier, learning to take small bites out of an enemy's fighting force with the help of extensive support units. Hylian air power was part of that support.

I heard the radio crackle in Malon's ear, and she glanced back at me.

"The battle just started."

"The Collective is attacking?"

"No, Zelda ordered-"

A blinding flash lit up the sky in front of us, and I nearly jumped out of my skin as Malon violently accelerated into the air. About twenty more flashes followed, moving down the horizon with each successive blast.

"MNNB's" Malon said. "Massive Non-Nuclear Bombs. That should soften up the enemy lines a little, although they had a shield covering the bulk of their forces. At the very least, they'll be shell-shocked."

More MNNB's lit up the night sky as we soared higher. The altimeter read 10,000 meters, and we were rising quickly. The amount of force this acceleration was putting on my body was absolutely incredible, and I started getting tunnel vision as we climbed to 15,000 meters.

"We should be safe from the air defenses up here, but we're going to feel the shockwaves in a minute." Malon said. "I'll come down on the other side of the canyons to drop you off."

My radio crackled as Hylian command announced that the canyons had been cleared. This was the work of the Army's Rangers. As always, they were lightning-fast.

"Okay, let's get this over with." I said.

…

Zelda

…

Cheers sounded through the lines as the horizon lit up, but I only sighed. I had been agonizing for hours over the decision to use nuclear bombs, but had eventually decided to accept the loss of Hylian life and aircraft and have over two dozen bombers drop MNNB's instead. Dropping a nuclear bomb would have irradiated the landscape and tarnished my legacy as queen. Ultimately, we had lost four of the bombers to anti-aircraft fire, but my scouting forces predicted over a quarter-million Collective soldiers had been caught outside the protective barrier surrounding Arnav's forces. Furthermore, the barrier was now flickering in and out of existence.

This was potentially the largest loss of life in Hylian military history, and that was just in a single bombing run. The battle still had to be fought, but at least the numbers would be slightly more favorable towards my own troops now.

Only slightly. We were still outnumbered by over half a million men.

There was no time to think about that now, though. The Army's leadership had decided on a preemptive strike, rather than waiting for the Collective. They had requested the nuclear option, but I couldn't approve that. I would never be able to forgive myself, and the courts would certainly raise objections. It could have ended the battle immediately, but it wasn't worth it.

An assault force of about a hundred thousand was now advancing through a path we had cleared through the rubble in the canyons. They would strike hard and fast, doing as much damage as possible to the Collective and drawing them out of the barrier. Once that happened, they would retreat into the canyons. From there, the Corps of Engineers would wait until the Collective followed and then detonate explosives hidden in the fallen rocks. They hoped to trap or kill another hundred thousand.

"ETA thirty seconds." I heard over the radio. The assault force was only a kilometer away from the outside of the Collective line. I watched the action through a camera mounted on the lead vehicle.

The first gunshots rang faintly from the inside of the canyon a few moments later, followed by a long string of unending fire. The truck with my camera emerged from the other side of the canyon, allowing me a clear view of the action.

The blast had scored a direct hit on the Collective, scorching the side of the canyon and turning the sand to glass beneath it. Their soldiers had obviously been caught off guard, and were now scrambling. Sure enough, the barrier was flickering in and out. It was on most of the time, and its generators would regain the necessary energy to maintain it shortly. This was expected, and didn't hinder our plans more than we had anticipated.

"Aerial footage is now available." My aide said, handing me a separate tablet.

I turned it on, guessing that I was now watching a camera mounted underneath a gunship. The view confirmed my earlier thoughts. A dozen shield pylons were now flickering feebly, barely maintaining the shield that the blast had nearly destroyed. The shield would block incoming and outgoing fire, but not anything moving slower than the speed of sound.

The assault force kept its distance from the camp, careful to stay outside of the two kilometer perimeter that was outlined in the plan, and began surrounding the Collective. Sporadic gunfire was traded between the Hylians and the Collective troops who had been caught outside the shield, but it didn't last very long.

It took a few minutes to form up outside of the camp, but the Collective troops still hadn't organized an effective resistance. The Hylians formed three lines on the northeast, east, and southeast sides, and then waited.

"The general requests your permission to engage the enemy." The radio operator said from behind me. "What should I tell him, your majesty?"

"Tell him he has full control and no longer needs to ask permission before advancing phases." I said.

The radio operator relayed the message. The assault force didn't waste time opening fire.

I quietly turned to the radio operator.

"Get Malon or Link on another line." I said, careful to speak softly enough that the men guarding my position wouldn't hear me. Only Rusl, myself, and this particular radioman knew that Link was behind enemy lines. It had been an hour since I heard from them, and I needed to know that they were alive. Because I had been speaking with them through a radio they had hacked from the Collective, I hadn't been able to say anything that might jeopardize the surprise of the bombing run.

If only my communications network hadn't been so damaged when Spud fired the nukes, I could have been guaranteed secure radio transmissions. As it stood, we only had a few levels of encryption.

"I've got Malon on the other end." The radio operator said. I turned and took the headset from him.

"I need a report on your status." I said.

"Just fucking great, your majesty. Thanks for the heads up. I'm sure glad I knew that we were dropping twenty MNNB's on the Collective. I would have been flying _directly at them_ if you hadn't told me ahead of time. It would have nearly knocked my jet out of the sky."

I'd give Malon a pass on her sarcasm this time. She deserved that much.

"Is Link completing his mission?" I asked.

Malon sighed.

"Yes, your majesty. I dropped him off a few minutes ago. I'm going to fly as high as I can without getting into the space battle. Any idea how that's going up there?"

I looked over at my tablet, flicking through various images and charts that depicted the status of the Hylian Navy fleet attacking the Collective blockade.

I didn't see anything to be concerned about. I hadn't given as much attention to the space battle as it deserved, but I trusted my Navy's leadership to win. We had greater numbers, better weapons, and some of the best strategists in the history of Hylian wars. The MAC cannon was a still relatively-new invention that the Collective hadn't been able to replicate yet, so we had that distinct advantage. Two or three MAC cannon shots could take out a Collective destroyer. Furthermore, Link had ensured the destruction of the Deceit of Kings, which had been the linchpin of Collective space operations.

"It's going well." I said. "Looks like the Collective blockade has lost about a quarter of its strength already, so it should be over in a few hours if they fight to the end."

"Which they won't." Malon said. "They never have."

I didn't say anything over the radio in case our conversation was somehow being intercepted, but I had ordered the Navy to ensure total destruction of the Collective fleet, even if that meant pursuing the survivors into deep space. As much as I hated the totalitarian vibes that put off, I wanted a resounding victory over the enemy. The seeds of this rebellion needed to be completely stamped out in one decisive blow, and today was the best chance.

"Any sign of the package yet?" I asked, referencing Arnav.

"I'm running scans, but I haven't picked up anything yet." Malon said. "You'll be the second person to know when I do."

"Thank you." I said. "I've got to turn my attention back to the battle now."

I handed the radio off to the operator and glanced at Rusl, nodding to affirm that Link and Malon had both survived. I then looked back at my observation tablet, watching as the assault force rained hell on the Collective troops. They were dropping like flies, unable to form any kind of useful resistance from within the shell of the barrier.

Artillery started firing from Phase Line Black, and I saw it impact the barrier twenty seconds later. The rounds were still moving too quickly to pass through, so the artillerymen adjusted the loads and took the barrel extensions off the guns. They fired another salvo, cheering as a few of the rounds passed through the barrier and landed in the middle of the panicking Collective troops.

"Fire for effect." I heard over the radio.

The entire line of guns began firing, joining the chaos of the assault force's automatic weapons. Finally the Collective troops were forced to make a decision. They began pouring from the barrier in their vehicles and even on foot, heading straight for the Hylian assault force.

"They're advancing! Assault force retreat!"

Immediately, the assault force turned and retreated in an organized, practiced fashion. Within two minutes, the entire force had retreated back through the canyon. The Collective troops took another three minutes to arrive.

The next phase was on the Corps of Engineers.

…

Link

…

I still wasn't very close to the Collective camp when the sound of gunfire echoed up through the canyon, reflected off the sheer rock cliffs below me. This wasn't like the shots from earlier, which were sporadic and obviously placed at single targets. This was cyclic, continuous machine gun fire.

"Link, I have some information." I heard Malon's voice say through my helmet's earpiece. "We're secure on this channel."

"Go ahead."

"There's a barrier around the bulk of the camp. The Hylian forces are firing from a long ways away so that their bullets will drop below the speed of sound and pass through, but you're going to have to come up with something else. The Collective troops are on the move, and I'm not picking Arnav up at all. You're not going to be able to find him."

I stalked up to the edge of the canyon several seconds later, in awe of the chaos laid before me. The Hylian assault force was slipping through the canyons at breakneck speeds, followed by the leading edge of a Collective counterattack. They were trading machine gun fire, but it looked as if the Collective was the only side taking any damage in this fight. Artillery was raining down on the barrier, with most of it passing through and hitting the troops still beneath it. The damages were minimal, considering the massive numbers the Collective had on their side, but the psychological effect was astounding. This was the most obvious trap in the history of obvious traps, but the Collective was being drawn into it regardless. Between the artillery and the false security of the ruined canyon, they had only one real option.

There were at least five thousand tanks forming a massive column behind the main force, although I didn't know how much luck they'd have getting through the canyon. The paths the engineers had cleared were only big enough for a standard armored vehicle. The tanks would have to drive over the obliterated rocks, which could prove deadly. A bigger problem was in the swarms of gunships still hiding beneath the barrier. Hopefully there was a significant amount of air defense behind Phase Line Black.

The shooting went on for several minutes, until it was clear that the Hylian assault force had retreated fully into the canyons. The ongoing artillery barrage had already killed several thousand Collective soldiers, and Hylian gunfire had done an equal amount of damage. It was a gruesome thought, and I hated that these people had been convinced to die for Arnav Nohansen's cause.

My suit's facial recognition wasn't picking anything up, although it was a nearly impossible task. I'd just have to scan enemies until I got a ping. I doubted he would be wearing a helmet, since he never had in the past. His presence would boost morale, so he would have to make himself known.

As the minutes passed, I noticed something was amiss. While this was still a sizable force of Collective soldiers, it didn't look like the two million that we had been expecting. I guessed that there were a million and a half soldiers left, although that could have been a conservative estimate. Regardless, the bombs and artillery certainly hadn't killed half a million of them. That wasn't even counting the quarter-million Collective troops that had already been stationed at the Arbiter's Grounds.

Furthermore, this force looked devoid of any serious tactical ability and leadership. They were literally charging into the most cut-and-dry trap I could possibly imagine. There wasn't a shred of organization.

"You sense it, too?" Sword asked quietly from the ground next to me. I nodded.

"Something's off. I expected far more resistance. They're all hiding or running around confused. In past battles, their forces were equally matched with ours until it came to individual skill."

I nudged the transmitter on my radio, connecting to Malon again.

"Malon, something's wrong." I said. "None of these guys know what they're doing, and I'm not seeing the numbers I was expecting. Also, I still don't see Arnav."

"I know." Malon replied. "I've scanned the camp three times now, and he's still not coming up."

"Run a strength check on their forces." I said.

There was a momentary pause.

"Just over 1.4 million." She said. "That can't be right."

"Are they planning something else?" I wondered aloud.

"Malon, can you see the sea to the north of the mountains?" Sword asked, jumping on the radio channel.

"Yes, but I can't get any details. What should I be looking for?"

"Try running a scan for any life above the water. I have a hunch."

"Yeah, give me a minute. I'm going to fly closer. The sand from the desert gets caught in the wind from the mountains and it's partially blocking my view. ETA three minutes."

I looked back through my scope and continued scanning. The Collective forces were moving into the canyons, and the gunships had formed a flying box formation underneath the barrier.

"They're about to counterattack." I heard through the Hylian Army channel.

"Assault Force is out of the canyons."

I routed my radio through Malon's stolen gunship so that I could speak with Zelda again.

"High command, this is Ghost-six. The Collective forces are now moving into the canyon in pursuit of the Hylian assault force."

A male's voice came back through my headpiece, crackling because of the sand blowing up out of the desert.

"Solid copy, Ghost. Advise you stay clear of the canyon path and continue mission."

I was several hundred meters away from the top of the path's rock cliff wall, so that would have to be good enough.

I heard a step next to me and turned, drawing my handgun. Fortunately, it was just Sword. I hadn't even noticed her leave.

"I scouted the canyon path. Our forces have set several thousand pounds of explosives in discreet places and are planning to crush the Collective forces when they come through."

"I figured as much. I'm going to keep-"

"Link, I think I found Arnav." Malon said through the radio.

"Where is he?" I asked, shouldering my rifle again.

"He's fleeing the planet. It looks like a sizable force of Collective troops are boarding an enormous spacecraft several hundred kilometers out into the ocean, and they left the majority of their forces behind to distract us. This would have been easy to detect if the Collective hadn't shot down all of our satellites the second they invaded the planet."

That explained why this Collective force was so insanely inadequate at what they were doing. They were following the Hylian assault force into a textbook trap, and most of them didn't look like soldiers. All of their leadership had fled, leaving only conscripts and the youngest members of the army.

 _We're killing slaves._

I froze at the thought. I had known the Collective was capturing young males across the far reaches of occupied space, but the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I had been too caught up in trying to take out Arnav.

Sword sensed my hesitation and turned on her mic.

"Did you tell command about this already?" She asked Malon.

"Just did."

"Are they going to attempt to force a surrender?"

"I don't know."

I shook my head, putting aside the sinking feeling I had in my gut. That could wait until later.

"Malon, can you do any damage to that spacecraft that Arnav is on?"

…

Malon

…

"I don't know." I said, looking at the camera feed on my monitor. "I don't see any obvious weak points in the armor. I can try to mark it, though."

"Do something. We can't let him escape if we don't want to go through this again."

"I'll see what I can do." I said.

I pulled up the holographic image of the space battle to see if there were any assets nearby. All I needed was one MAC round. It looked as if the Collective Navy had officially lost any momentum they'd had before, because many of the ships were in pieces or fleeing. The Hylian Navy wasn't giving any ground, though. Any Collective ships that fired up their FTL drives were instantly caught in a deadly crossfire by the waiting destroyers, while the carriers continued the bulk of the ship-to-ship combat. The orbital cannons were still floating, useless, but it didn't seem to matter. The Navy was undeniably dominating the Collective.

Unfortunately, it didn't look as if any of the Hylian destroyers could be spared right now. I decided to radio in to the fleet anyways, just to be sure. It was a pain to try to connect with command through the Collective transmitter, so I just hacked my way through the decryption and synced it up to the fluctuations in the code. It only took a few seconds, which was slightly disconcerting.

"Fleet Command, this is SSC-6 requesting assistance, over."

"SSC-6 this is Fleet Command, go ahead."

"I've located Arnav Nohansen and the bulk of the Collective ground forces. They're attempting to escape on a spacecraft at the coordinates I'm sending now. Requesting MAC assistance."

"Coordinates received. Checking available resources."

There was a pause as the AI worked through the situation.

"SSC-6, Fleet Command currently has no MAC assistance that can be offered within the next half-hour. All Hylian destroyers are currently engaged in combat with the enemy, and cannot safely retreat in time to render aid without putting our defenders on the ground at risk of a space-to-ground attack."

I sighed, not knowing what I was expecting in the first place. I was going to have to try to disable this escape ship until the Navy could take care of it.

"Solid copy, Fleet Command. Keep me updated on any changes."

"I've put out a general call for assistance on the Hylian BattleNet for you. Hopefully someone around there can help. Fleet Command out."

I shook my head and turned to my weapons display. For all its glory, the Gatling Gun wouldn't do much against an armored spacecraft. I had several missiles with enough explosive power to ding up the engine armor pretty bad, but otherwise I was out of luck.

 _Unless…_

This was one of the fastest aircraft I had ever flown, and it was fairly heavy. I did the energy calculations on the computer and realized I had an option. It was extremely dangerous, but it could be done. I radioed back to Link.

"Link, I'm going to fly this thing as fast as it will go into Arnav's ship. Obviously I'm going to attempt to eject before I hit, so I'll need a water rescue team. I need you to radio the coordinates back to the Army and get that moving. I don't have time to do that right now."

"I'm guessing the Navy couldn't help?"

He knew better than to argue with me over this when we had so few options.

"Not soon enough." I said, watching the Collective troops board the escape craft on my monitor. They were almost completely loaded up, and the engines were already running. I estimated another ten minutes until they were ready to leave the atmosphere. If they made it out of the local cluster, it would be very difficult to track them before their FTL signature faded away.

I nudged the nose of my jet down and opened the throttle to 90%. I'd have to be careful to not go too fast so this thing didn't fall apart before it hit the Collective ship. Plus, I still had to be able to eject without getting killed. There was a lot of research that had gone into high velocity ejection survival in the past decade, but the human body had its definitive limits that even technology couldn't overcome.

Based on the technology I had seen in this jet, I could safely eject at Mach 20, or 20 times the speed of sound at sea level. This jet had more than enough mass to do significant damage at that speed, and I'd fire all of the missiles right before ejection. If everything worked out, the escape ship would be too damaged to leave the atmosphere. If I hit the engines, it wouldn't be able to draw enough energy to fire the FTL drive, which would solve all of my current problems except for one.

The escape was going to be interesting.

I was quickly dropping through the atmosphere towards the open water, so I primed the missiles and double checked my safety harness. I was currently traveling at Mach 12, and I would easily reach the Mach 20 ejection limit before entering the stratosphere. I brought the throttle down to 50%, not seeing a need to accelerate too quickly.

The back of the ship was facing me, and I could see its engines firing. There were four of them lined up along the middle of the aft section, so I set my autopilot to fly directly into it. Twenty different warning messages popped up about being on a collision course with a friendly vessel, so I had to take a few seconds to override them.

By now I was pushing Mach 16, so I pulled the ejection cable. A handle popped up between my legs, which would most likely require 60 or more pounds of force to be applied upwards before I could actually escape. I didn't have an oxygen tank, so I'd have to time my ejection just right. I wasn't properly acclimated to high altitudes due to having lived in Castle Town for several years and growing up in the same type of environment, so I needed to get out under 5,000 meters. That would be optimal for breathing, ensuring that I wasn't too close to the Collective ship, and safe ejection. Lower air pressure meant that there wouldn't be quite as much whiplash when I exited.

Recognizing that, I did some quick calculations in my head and decided to take a risk. I set the speed to Mach 18 and checked my altitude. 75,000 meters. At 8,000 meters, I would completely open the throttle before ejecting. I estimated that the jet would continue to accelerate to Mach 25 or faster before it impacted the Collective escape ship, which would do considerably more damage than Mach 20. The downside was that the jet would push slightly over its top speed, which could potentially make it unstable in that final stretch. It was a risk I would have to take.

"I've got someone coming to get you." I heard Link say over the radio. "Are you sure about this?"

"I have to be." I said. I noticed he had sent me the radio link, so I forwarded my estimated landing coordinates.

"What's the story on the ground battle?" I asked, noticing I had dropped to 50,000 meters already. I was already starting to notice the effects of the increased air pressure resisting this jet's insane speed.

"Sword just ran off to try to blow the canyon path before they get there, and our gunships are ripping theirs to shreds. Hopefully the ground troops will be trapped and we can force them to surrender."

I admired that Link was always trying to save lives, even in the middle of a war. I highly doubted that Sword had simply run off to do that of her own volition, because she had never shown any hint of mercy in the past. It had probably been Link's idea.

"Do you know that Arnav was on that ship?" He asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

"No, but it's pretty safe to assume." I said. "Where else would he be?"

"I guess you're right."

25,000 meters. I could see the Collective ship with my own eyes now, although it was nothing more than a dot. I put my finger on the trigger for the missiles, looking at the monitor to double check that they were locked onto the ship's engines.

"I'm going to have to eject soon." I said. "We'll be out of radio contact once the jet hits that Collective ship."

"Yeah, I figured."

There was a moment of silence as I dropped to 18,000 meters. I was traveling so fast that Link couldn't finish what he was trying to say before I hit 10,000.

"Malon, be careful. I-"

I opened the throttle and pulled the trigger on the missiles, then yanked upwards on the ejection handle. Time almost stopped, and I panicked as I thought that there had been an ejection failure. In slow motion, the canopy of the jet exploded off of the top and was swept back by the roaring wind. My seat accelerated forcefully upwards, but I didn't feel the wind due to the thick energy shield that appeared in front of me.

I realized too late what I should have remembered about jets in the first place. The sonic boom washed over me, blowing my eardrums to pieces and pounding in my chest. Everything went silent, and I panicked realizing that I could no longer hear. I pushed the initial reaction aside and looked down to the Collective escape ship just as my missiles struck. I didn't have time to observe the damage because the jet impacted half a second later. I could feel the pressure and heat wash over me a few seconds later. It felt like an MNNB had just detonated nearby.

I stared in anticipation, hoping that my insane plan had worked. I didn't even notice my parachute automatically deploy as I scanned the massive cloud of smoke and fire.

Finally I was able to see the Collective ship. The impact had struck directly in between the four engines, and looked as if it had done massive damage. I sighed in relief. Just looking at it, that thing wasn't going anywhere.

I chuckled to myself, although I couldn't hear it. My hands were shaking so hard that I could barely hold on to the parachute's guide ropes. I hadn't realized how much adrenaline had been coursing through me in the last thirty seconds, but it was more than I'd ever experienced before. That had certainly been a thrill.

It wasn't over, though. About a thousand Collective soldiers had still been trying to load up into the escape ship, but it started to lift away from the water.

 _How is it still moving?!_

Sure enough, the escape ship was slowly rising into the air. It looked like a single engine was still functioning. Much to my horror, it turned so that the line of turrets on the side were facing me.

"SSC-6 to any Hylian troops within range, requesting immediate assistance." I said into my helmet radio, although I couldn't hear a word I was saying. "Arnav Nohansen is aboard a Collective escape craft, and they're turning to fire on me. I say again, I need immediate assistance at Quebec-Uniform 3862 0891."

I yanked my buoy knife out of its holster, prepared to cut the ropes on my parachute if they started firing at me. It would only buy me a little time, since I'd have to pull the reserve chute within twenty seconds, but it was better than nothing. There was no way they could hit me in freefall from this distance.

Sure enough, I saw tracer rounds start flying towards me. I quickly cut the ropes holding me to the parachute and entered freefall, my hand gripping the reserve chute's release handle. I spent a few seconds calming my nerves. I had trained on this exact scenario dozens of times when I was in the Army. I would open the chute about 50 meters above the surface of the water to minimize my time in the air. Once I touched the surface, I would release the seat harness and swim about ten meters down. At that depth, conventional weapons couldn't do any damage. I estimated I had enough air for three minutes of constant activity before I'd have to come back up and replace my suit's minimally maintained atmosphere.

 _If only I'd just invested in a rebreather system,_ I lamented to myself. They were heavy, but I certainly wouldn't have minded the extra weight now. It was no matter, I'd have to make this work.

I yanked the reserve chute handle as bullets whistled several hundred meters above my head. The gunners on that ship certainly weren't sparing a single round trying to kill me, making the next ten seconds the longest of my entire life. After what felt like years, I touched the surface of the water and bailed from my safety harness.

As soon as the water washed over me, the flight seat was ripped to shreds by incoming fire. Fortunately there was still quite a bit of distance between myself and the Collective ship, but it was still nerve racking to watch the .50 caliber bullets coming to a stop several feet in front of my face. I quickly swam down further.

I was now at the end of my plan. I had no idea what to do from here, but I couldn't stay forever. An oxygen light immediately appeared in my visor, warning that I had just over 4 minutes until asphyxiation.

I had no options at this point, so I turned north and started swimming. The nearest piece of land was a small island 34 kilometers away, but it was my only hope at this point. I estimated that I could make the swim in about 8 hours if the Collective ship gave up on trying to kill me. Based on the volume of bullets being fired into the water above my head, though, that wasn't happening soon.

I checked my thermal display, which was still working surprisingly well despite the fact that I was underwater. It appeared that the Collective ship was coming closer to me, which wasn't a good sign.

 _Why are they trying to kill me rather than escape?_

I kept swimming, hoping that they didn't have the capability to see where I was. Bullets were sinking down below me into the darkness, though, so I knew they did. Apparently they were getting the hint, though, because the volume was decreasing.

 _Hopefully they'll think I have a rebreather and just…_

 _Fuck._

I could see a blue glow coming from the ship, and thermals showed a massive heat spike near the bow. They were spinning up something big, and I couldn't imagine it was anything besides a bomb or extremely high velocity round. If they had a heavy-mass cannon, it would take a lot more than 10 meters of water to be protected.

I had three minutes of air left, so I dived down deeper, gulping back my fear of the pitch black below me. There was a reason I had joined the Army instead of the Navy, but I knew that the Collective ship posed a much more immediate threat to me. Once I was at 25 meters of depth, though, another light appeared on my visor.

 _Pressure warning. Great._

I couldn't see the Collective ship anymore, and only a small disturbance appeared on thermal, so I stayed put for the moment. Hopefully they would lose track of me.

I nearly leapt out of my skin as the water exploded above me. Several meters to my right, a large caliber projectile slipped through the water, boiling everything around it. I lost sight of it in the darkness before the water managed to stop it, which meant I was still in the killing range.

 _My goddesses, they're using a railgun! Who the hell puts one of those on an escape ship?!_

That didn't even come close to addressing the question of why an escape craft would bother trying to kill a single pilot, but I didn't have time to worry about that. I started swimming frantically past where the railgun round had just traveled. The water to my left exploded again, boiling to the surface as another round passed through. This one had missed me by a little more than the last one.

 _They don't know exactly where I am._

If they were truly following thermals, I would be hard to pick up at this depth. Furthermore, those rounds were creating enough friction to boil the water, which would further impair thermal vision if they were having a hard time picking me up.

Another round entered the water only two meters in front of me. I jumped, swimming backwards quickly.

 _Shit, maybe they can still see me._

A minute of air left. I'd been going through it quickly because I was breathing so heavily, but now I was between a rock and a hard place. I had to surface for air soon, which meant I had about twenty seconds before I had to start swimming since I was so deep under the water. Once I reached the surface, I'd be killed in a heartbeat.

An idea popped into my head. It was complete insanity, and I'd probably be killed anyways, but it was my only option at this point. I let my body go limp, allowing the air inside my suit to pull me towards the surface. Another railgun round pounded the water behind me, but I ignored it. Hopefully they would think the sheer force of the impact killed me.

I may have been right. Those rounds were expensive, and it appeared that the Collective didn't want to waste them on a dead person. I was several seconds from running out of air when I reached the surface, allowing my suit to cycle with fresh atmosphere. Fortunately it did that on its own, or I wouldn't have been faking death for long.

I had been careful to surface with my face up so that I could see what was going on, but I almost wished that I hadn't. The Collective ship was hovering several hundred meters above the water with its main gun facing directly towards me. Much to my dismay, the main gun was far bigger than the railgun they had been firing at me.

 _This isn't an escape ship. At least not a dedicated one._

 _Are they even escaping? Or are they preparing for another attack?_

There was no way they were that crazy, unless their command was completely unaware of the beat down the Hylian Navy was laying on their forces above the planet. They had to know that they weren't in a position to attack without orbital backup.

It was possible that they were just desperate.

The Collective had always struggled with its respect among the Hylian populace, especially within the most heavily populated areas of the galaxy. This could be their last ditch effort to prove themselves or an attempt to die as martyrs and potentially stain Zelda's reputation.

I nearly jumped as the main cannon started warming up.

 _Fuck, that's a plasma cannon._

There was no way I would dodge that shot. Likely the only thing that had stopped the Collective ship from using that weapon until now was the fact that there was only one engine creating energy. It looked as if they wanted to make a point now, even if that meant firing a vacuum-designated weapon in the atmosphere.

There was nothing I could do at this point. I couldn't run. I couldn't hide. I couldn't defend myself. There was no backup coming.

I was going to die.

I sighed to myself. This wasn't how I imagined it would happen, but at least it would be painless. Terrifying, but painless.

I breathed deeply a few times, only now realizing how scared I was. I'd been on the verge of death dozens of times before, but I had always had a viable escape route. A ship-mounted plasma cannon against one person stranded in the ocean wasn't exactly the greatest odds, though.

The cannon continued to warm up, eventually turning a bright purple color.

 _This is it._

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to watch this.

 _Link will be upset. I made him promise not to die, and here I am._

 _He'd probably be upset regardless of the promise._

Several seconds passed, and I cringed. The ship was obviously going to fire any moment. I wanted this to be over with.

A surge of water suddenly rushed over me, pushing me under the surface. I opened my eyes, realizing that I had been pushed all the way back down past my previous depth, and my helmet was flashing another warning.

 _39 meters?!_

I quickly started swimming towards the surface, but realized I was a little disoriented and actually just swimming downwards. Once I had gotten pointed in the right direction, I ascended slowly.

 _What the hell just happened? How did I end up that far down?_

Blue text scrolled across my visor.

 _SSC-6, this is Umbra-1. Are you unharmed?_

"I think so." I said sloppily, unable to hear myself.

 _Excellent. Please stay where you are, we're mopping up here and then we'll send a rescue team._

"Can I come to the surface?"

 _Yes, but there are a lot of dead bodies floating around._

"Wha… How? Who are you?"

 _A mutual friend sent us. You're safe now, there's no need to worry._

It took me a little while to reach the surface, but I was absolutely shocked at what I saw when I got there. The Collective ship had been ripped clean in half and was sinking into the ocean. There were still soldiers jumping away from the burning wreckage, but many more were floating lifeless on the water. Above it all hovered a ship so black that I couldn't get my eyes to focus on its surface.

 _What the hell is that?_

From what I could see, it was shaped like a very small destroyer. There were no markings to indicate which side of the battle it was on, but I could only assume it was "Umbra." My suspicions were confirmed when it fired a thin purple beam of energy into the sinking Collective ship, cutting it into smaller pieces.

In a matter of seconds, the escape ship had sunk below the surface, leaving tens of thousands of dead, wounded, or angry Collective soldiers stranded in the ocean.

I let out a breath I had been holding.

Was this really over? Or was I in some sort of pre-death hallucination?

The black ship appeared over me suddenly, dropping down until it was almost right on top of me. A hatch opened, and a man in the same pitch-black colored armor appeared. I could barely keep my eyes on him.

He stretched his hand out, and I reached up to grasp it. In a flash, I was inside the ship. There was a jerking motion, and then everything was still again.

 _Please follow our representative to the medical bay. We need to repair your eardrums._

I was a little sketched out by all the cloak-and-dagger, but these people had saved my life, so I followed the man down the hall. The inside of this ship looked like any other Hylian spacecraft, except that each person I saw was either covered in this headache-inducing armor or magically concealed underneath a black cloak.

I was ushered into the medical bay, where a doctor stood waiting for me. She was the first person I had seen with an uncovered face on this ship, and it was a surprising relief. I realized she was gesturing for me to remove my helmet, so I did.

Words scrolled across the monitor on the wall.

 _Please put on a robe, lay down, and get some rest. We're going to perform immediate surgery on your ears so that they can regain 100% function._

I looked up at the bed the doctor had prepared for me, and then back up to her.

 _Oh shit, here it comes._

I felt my eyes well up with tears as I came off of the adrenaline rush. I couldn't believe I had actually been saved, and now I could go home. I yanked off my wet armor quickly, putting on the dry robe that was offered to me and relishing its warmth. As I laid down, the doctor connected a needle to an IV line, which I could see was connected to anesthetic.

 _Well, I guess if they wanted to kill me they could have done it by now._

I let her stick the needle in my arm, and didn't even bother fighting the blissful sleep that followed.

…

Link

…

"This is Umbra-1. Your… friend has been recovered. She's in pretty bad shape, but we'll take good care of her. Once we get her ears put back together we'll bring her back to SSC headquarters."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"We also shredded the Collective ship. I'm sending you the coordinates of where it went down in case the queen would like to send a few rescue ships. There's several thousand Collective soldiers that will all drown in a matter of hours if she doesn't."

"I'll let her know." I said. "And thank you."

"Anytime. I know you'd do the same for me if I asked, so don't worry about it. Are you going to be coming back to the main group soon, though? You know we need you."

"No, I don't think so. I've finally found something to live for here, so I think I'll stick around. You know I'm only coming back if you guys find Eta Ali."

"Yeah I know, I was just hoping that maybe you'd changed your mind. What you're doing is a noble pursuit, though, so I can't fault you for wanting to stay in Castle Town."

"It's not the job." I said. "It's that girl you just picked up."

There was a momentary silence.

"Oh, this makes sense now. I guess I need to go get a better look at her, then."

I chuckled quietly.

"Try not to stare. She bites."

"I would expect nothing less from a girl who finally made you break that stone-cold façade. Anyways, I've got to get back to my crew. Be sure you keep updating me on this… Nabooru. I'm becoming increasingly concerned about her every day."

"If you don't mind me asking before you go, why are you concerned about her?" I said, hoping she would answer. "I've been feeding you information for months now, but nothing she's doing seems overly suspicious."

Umbra paused uncertainly.

"I guess you wouldn't know." She said finally. "The problem isn't her story, but the fact that she lacks a unique one."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"My name is Nabooru." Umbra said. "All of her information that you've fed me so far matches me perfectly, but that shouldn't be possible. I was wiped from the records when I went active Black Ops. Whoever Nabooru actually is, she's hiding something. That being said, she hasn't actually done anything to indicate that she intends to harm the queen, so I'm trying to figure out a motive. She may be your key to information about Eta Ali."

I didn't know what to say. This was a lot to take in.

"Could there just be another Nabooru? Is this some really strange mistake?"

"Definitely not, so keep me updated. Anyways, now that you've figured out more about me than you ever should have known, I'm going to cut the line. We'll return Malon to Castle Town discreetly."

The radio connection went blank, and I quickly forwarded the coordinates of the Collective survivors to command. I was close enough to reach them with just my suit's radio now.

I reached up to turn on my helmet's microphone, but realized that I had never actually turned it off.

 _Crap,_ I thought to myself, glancing over at Sword. She had heard my entire conversation.

"So now you realized." She said simply. "Who are you feeding information to? Why are you concerned about Nabooru?"

I shook my head.

"You shouldn't have heard that." I said. "I'll talk to you about it later, but keep your mouth shut for now."

My radio activated again. This time, it was Hylian command.

"Ghost, this is High Command. We've got a helicopter coming to your location right now for extraction. Please hold position."

"Copy, High Command. Holding position."

I gestured for Sword to stop, and then sat down on the canyon overlooking the trapped Collective troops. The demoralized and shell-shocked men had surrendered quickly and without bloodshed once the canyon path had been blocked. All the preparations the Hylian Army had made were now unnecessary, and the war was over. If Arnav was still alive, he'd be captured soon. Even if he wasn't, he no longer had an army to fight, and his fleet was ruined.

As far as wars went, this day couldn't have gone any better for the Hylian Empire. It was strangely anticlimactic, but I would take that over what I had expected.

As the sun rose over Hyrule, I looked up to the sky and took a moment to thank the Goddesses for sparing Malon. If there hadn't been any Black Ops troops in the area, she would have been obliterated.

Now we had to move on to rebuilding Castle.

…

 **Please review! Let me know what you expect/would like to see in Part 2.**

 **Summary of edits**

 **Zelda denies the use of nuclear bombs and orders a barrage of non-nuclear bombs on the Collective instead**

 **The Collective force is scaled WAY up from the previous version**

 **Umbra, Link's Black Ops contact, is revealed as the real Nabooru, leaving the identity/motives of the SSC's Nabooru in question**


	13. Bridge 1

**This begins my new material. Old readers, I highly suggest you guys go back and read the edit summaries I put at the bottom of each edited chapter. The next three chapters will be short stories/transitions ("bridges") into part 2. My intent is to close any open plot lines from part 1 and help lead the story into part 2.**

 **It was a side comment from Zelda buried way back in the middle of part 1, so I'll remind you guys that "Linus" is the Ancient Hylian name for Link/the Hero of Light. It's supposed to translate to the modern day "Link." No, that's not canon.**

Bridge 1

Midna

One week after the end of the war

…

I felt certain that the council was panicking at my extended absence, but they would survive for now. I had work to do in Hyrule.

As I approached the edge of the Lost Woods, I stared into its depths in anticipation. This was the last place Link had seen the Hero of Light, and I could already feel that I was going to find what I came here for.

Something was watching me.

The crisp morning air didn't bother me. Despite this Hylian winter being particularly brutal, the Twilight Realm was much colder. The crunching of the snow under my feet was the only source of noise in the immediate area, and I was left in complete silence when I halted at the tree line.

I knew Linus was here. Even after all these years, I recognized his presence.

"Linus, it's me." I said, speaking in Ancient Hylian.

I heard several heavy footsteps, but still saw nothing. The wind picked up, biting through my thick clothing and sending snow flurries across Hyrule Field.

"Midna?"

I turned around. Two thousand Hylian years hadn't made me forget that voice. Linus, the Hero of Light, was standing behind me. His piercing blue eyes bore the pain of two millennia of suffering, but otherwise he looked the same as I remembered him. He even had his green tunic on.

"I…" I started, but my mouth hung open in shock. I had had something to say, but I couldn't remember it.

We stared at each other in silence for several long moments, both in disbelief.

Linus was the first one to move, reaching up to touch my face tentatively.

"Is this real?" He asked quietly.

I nodded, and my tears started to fall freely as I put my hand over his.

"It's not some trick of the forest?"

I shook my head.

"I…" He muttered, but he seemed to be as lost for words as I was.

"I've missed you." I whispered finally.

In a flash, Linus wrapped me in his arms and swung me around in a circle like a scene from a romance movie. I broke down, hanging onto him like I'd never let him go.

"How did you find me?" He asked, setting me back on my feet and staring into my eyes.

"I ran into a certain hero when he was saving Hyrule." I said, smiling through my tears and choking back sobs. "I watched some very familiar swordplay when he was training my soldiers, and I had to ask who trained him."

We stared into each other's eyes for several more moments, and then Linus leaned in and kissed me passionately. I had waited two thousand years regretting that I hadn't told him how I felt, but it all seemed petty now.

I had never been this happy in my life.

When Linus finally pulled away, all the things I wanted to say came flooding back to me. I needed to apologize for shattering the mirror and abandoning him. He deserved an explanation.

"Linus, I…" I started, but he put his finger on my lips.

"You don't need to do that." He said. "I've had two thousand years to think about it, and I know you made the right decision, even if it was painful."

"No, I didn't." I said. "It was absolutely the wrong decision. That was one of the worst mistakes I've ever made. I was trying to prevent any further interference in Hyrule from the Twilight, but nothing would have happened if I had just left the mirror intact. The Twilight has been in a relative state of peace since Zant was killed. The only thing I accomplished was driving you into the Lost Woods."

Linus smiled, his eyes bright.

"I'm here now." He said. "I'm not a Stalfos anymore, and I can pass on in peace. You did what you felt you needed to do at the time, so there's no reason for me to hang onto that. You couldn't see the future."

I sighed and looked down. I had known that there wouldn't be a happy ending, even if I reunited with Linus. It was just hard to hear him say that he was going to die shortly.

"Hey." He said, lifting my chin so I was forced to look him in the eyes.

"Yeah?" I whispered.

"Come with me."

I stared at him blankly.

"You mean…"

"Yes." He said, nodding. "Let's pass on together. I think the Goddesses have waited long enough to welcome us to the afterlife."

The thought of death would have terrified me a thousand years ago, but I wasn't the slightest bit concerned with it while I was standing here with Linus. I wasn't even worried about the Twilight Realm. My country would be in good hands.

"What will happen?" I asked.

"I don't know." Linus said. "But I can hear Farore calling out to me every now and then. You can come with me if you want, or you can stay here."

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked.

"I…" He started, looking into my eyes again. "I think I'd like that very much."

I smiled and hugged him tightly.

"I think I'd like that, too." I said.

Linus held me close.

"I love you, Midna." He said. "I should have told you that before you left."

"I love you, too." I said, my voice muffled by his chest. "And I probably should have told you that after you saved my life."

This was so sudden, but it felt right. Like I had waited two thousand years for this moment. My only fear had been that Linus would hate me after all this time, but I didn't have to worry about that anymore.

"One thing before we go." I said, taking one look back at Hyrule Field. The Twili piloting my gunship was staring out the cockpit window in awe at Linus, so I reached over and spoke into the radio on my shoulder. I owed it to the council to at least notify them that I wouldn't be coming back.

"I'm going to go now." I said. "You can go back and tell the council to initiate picking a new head of state."

There was a brief pause.

"A new… Princess, what do you mean?"

"I'm not coming back." I said.

After that, I turned the radio off and tossed it aside. Where I was going, I wouldn't need it.

"I'm ready now."

Linus grinned and took my hand.

"You were always ready for a new adventure." He said.

"This one looks like it'll be the best one yet." I replied, kissing him one more time.

With that, we turned and Linus led me into the woods.


	14. Bridge 2

Bridge 2

Zelda

One month after the end of the war

…

I groaned as I flopped down in my bed. It had been a full twenty hours since I had stopped working, and tomorrow wasn't looking any more promising. Malon opened my door and handed me a steaming mug.

"Tea?" I asked skeptically.

"It'll put you to sleep." She said. "I can't have you working yourself to death."

I sighed and drank the minty beverage, wishing it was alcohol but knowing that I shouldn't start drinking again. This post-war chaos had only intensified now that the council had initiated full reconstruction. Nearly the entire planet was being repaired or rebuilt, and many areas of Castle Town had been completely leveled in preparation. It was cheaper to build new infrastructure than to repair the most heavily damaged areas.

Unfortunately, this required a massive amount of efficient governmental involvement. The problem was that our government wasn't efficient, which caused public servants at all levels a great deal of stress. I was a prime example.

"Where's Link?" I asked. He hadn't worked a shift in over a week now.

"Running scouting missions on one of the outer colonies." Malon said. "There's something of interest to Impa out there. I'm not sure exactly what, but I'm sure he'll tell me when he gets back."

"Oh, well I'm glad she's letting me know what my personal task force is doing. You know, since I'm the one in charge of it." I grumbled.

"Complaint noted." Malon said.

"Have you heard anything from the Twilight?" I asked.

Malon had been keeping tabs on the replacement process for Midna after she passed away last month. Her gunship's pilot had watched her walk into the woods with the Hero of Light, and her body was found several hundred meters inside the tree line the next day. Fortunately there was a cockpit camera running in the gunship, or there may have been a few questions raised about her death. As it stood, the Twili were ecstatic that she had reunited with the Hero of Light and passed into the afterlife with him.

The Twilight Monarch was picked through an election, which was strange to me. They had no royal bloodline, so the monarch was just an elected head of state for the rest of his or her life. Most of the time, the monarch would step down after several decades. Midna herself had stepped down and been reelected periodically throughout Twili history.

"It looks like the pro-Hylian alliance candidate is leading in the polls." Malon said.

"That's good." I said, nodding in approval. "What about the other…what? Eight?"

"I don't think they stand much of a chance." Malon replied. "Rakar, the leading candidate, was a member of the War Council and the first to throw his weight behind the surprise attack at the Arbiter's Grounds. He was the driving force behind getting Link in to speak to the War Council and convince them to help us."

"But why?" I asked curiously.

"I'm still not sure, but he seems very pro-Hyrule." Malon said. "When I listened to him speak, he seemed very genuine. The Twili loved that they were able to help, so Rakar became extremely popular."

"Good." I said. I liked the idea of rekindling Hylian-Twili relations in a way that hadn't been possible with Midna in charge, and hoped that Rakar would be open to the idea.

"Also, the dive team finished their final inspection of the wreckage of the Collective escape ship." Malon said. "Arnav has officially been declared missing in action."

I sighed. It would have been better to retrieve a body as some form of closure, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. Fringe groups in the Collective were still fighting due to the possibility of Arnav having survived.

The circumstances of the escape craft's destruction had become a point of contention within the media. The official government press release had stated that Malon's kamikaze attack had sunk the craft, but the divers hadn't been able to keep their mouths shut. Pictures of the sunken ship had surfaced all over the internet, revealing that it had been sliced to pieces like a stick of butter. There was no known Hylian weapon that could do that.

At least, the people didn't know there was a weapon like that. I certainly did, and I knew exactly what it was mounted on. The Black Ops ship that had appeared was a stage 1 prototype that only several dozen people in the galaxy knew about. Over ninety percent of those people were the crew of the ship.

This had raised a lot of questions for me. I, of course, knew about the Black Ops unit and Link's involvement in it. Before this, though, the Black Ops leadership had never done something so conspicuous. Most of their operations dealt with deep cover operations.

It occurred to me that Link could be a deep cover agent, although I had a difficult time understanding what purpose he had in being where he was. Not even Impa knew about his Black Ops involvement, although I felt certain that Malon did. I'd just have to ask him about it when he got back.

"How are things going with you and Link, anyways?" I asked Malon, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't read my thoughts.

She hesitated uncertainly.

"I'm not sure if I should talk about it."

I grinned.

"I take it Impa doesn't approve."

"Not in the slightest." Malon admitted. "I get it, you know? Under official military doctrine we're not allowed to have any kind of relationship that isn't work related. It even makes sense logically, since our relationship can be used against us by enemies of the state."

"But…" I started.

"But I don't care."

I nodded.

"I think it's wonderful." I said. "You can't help what the heart wants."

"I wasn't aware that you were a sap." Malon said, the hint of a smile on her face. "How's Richard doing? Rusl told me he finally got released from the hospital yesterday."

"He's… changed." I said, unsure of how to respond. "I think he's dealing with some serious post-traumatic stress right now, and he still won't talk about what Spud did to them in there. The other two technicians didn't come out so bad, so I think Spud was targeting him."

"I understand." Malon replied. "Believe me, I've dealt with a few traumatic experiences in the past decade. It'll take a few months for him to get past the worst of it, so stick with him. Link has been in to talk to him a few times, so that should help."

"I don't know about that." I said, chuckling. "Richard is still aggravated at Link from some incident when they were teenagers."

Suddenly, I felt a heavy weight in my chest and my eyelids felt like they were weighted down by bricks.

"I see you're feeling it now." Malon said. "I may have slipped a milligram of Eszopiclone in that tea before I gave it to you. You've gotten less than two hours of sleep each night for the past four days."

"I should have you jailed." I grumbled sleepily. "This is the second time you bastards have drugged me."

"Shad is going to stand in for you tomorrow." She said, ignoring my empty threats. "I promise the world will keep turning."

I finally let my eyes close and gave up. Malon hadn't actually done anything wrong, since I had the bottle of Eszopiclone in my bathroom.

And besides, she was right. The world would keep turning if I took a sick day.


	15. Bridge 3

**This is the last transition chapter. I'm already working on new content, so be looking for it soon.**

Bridge 3

Link

Eight months after the end of the war

…

I sat still for a moment, breathing in the fresh air of Faron's Grand Forest. Even though I had grown up on an island far to the south, this entire planet still felt like home. The trees, the wind, and the wildlife felt so natural. So right.

After my brief moment of nostalgia, I turned my attention back to the task at hand. I wasn't here on vacation, and I needed to keep reminding myself of that. Impa had sent me here two weeks ago to scout a new member of the SSC to help fill the void left by Ralis's death and, more recently, Malon's retirement.

I opened my helmet's display as I stared at the birdlike Rito girl several hundred meters away. She was only nineteen years old, but her file looked promising. She had joined the military at seventeen, like Malon, and made it through the Forest Ranger selection school a year later. The Rito people were typically very reclusive, but Medli was very involved with the local villagers and their lives. She had become the public face of the local Forest Ranger platoon.

I had yet to see her in any sort of combat action, but such a thing was rare out here. I'd likely have to bring her back to Castle with me and continue my analysis there.

Medli was currently patrolling her area of the forest, invisible to the untrained eye. It had been nearly impossible to remain undetected for the past two weeks while I watched, but somehow I had pulled it off. If she found me, that would be bonus points towards her possible promotion.

So far today she hadn't done much. A few days ago, she had managed to redirect a bear away from one of the villages, but otherwise everything was quiet.

 _What do Forest Rangers even do?_ I wondered to myself. This was incredibly boring.

Night was falling quickly, so I picked up my rifle and finished my observations for the day. Medli would be replaced within the next ten minutes, so there was no point in me sticking around. I'd just come back tomorrow.

Twenty minutes later, I made my way into the small village where Malon and I had rented a cabin. We were trying to remain inconspicuous, but Malon's accent and appearance were distinctly Castle-like. Her fiery red hair was especially intriguing to the villagers. They had immediately noticed her, and she was bombarded with questions every time she left the house. A few of the Forest Rangers, including Medli, had swung by to welcome her to the area.

For now, they didn't know I was here. I had been careful to make it seem as if Malon was just a solitary visiting hunter.

We had made the decision to get married three months ago, although we'd received a lot of pushback from Impa. Due to that, Malon had submitted her retirement request and left the military so that we could go through with the wedding. Zelda herself had offered to file an exception to the military's relationship doctrine, but Malon had been looking for a reason to leave anyways. She immediately became an avid hunter when she left, which was serving as an excellent cover story in this particular locale.

I activated my optical camouflage before entering the village, and swiftly made my way into the cabin. Once inside, I locked the door and deactivated my armor. The sound of it depressurizing brought Malon into the living room. Her camouflaged clothing was soaked and covered in blood stains.

"I'm guessing you got something today." I said, shivering. It was currently winter in Faron's northern hemisphere, and I was feeling the worst of it.

"Yeah, I ran into a particularly nasty boar while I was out." She said. "Needless to say, we're going to be eating pork for a while. How was your day?"

I threw a blanket around myself and flopped down on the couch, wishing the heater worked better.

"Same old stuff." I said. "These Forest Rangers must have the easiest jobs in the galaxy. All this girl does is go talk to people and keep dangerous animals away from the village. I haven't seen anything that would make her stick out to Impa, but there must be something. Especially considering how young she is."

Malon started stripping off her blood-soaked clothing, which was oddly entertaining to me.

"She's not that much younger than you." She pointed out.

"I had five years of service when I came into the SSC." I said. "This girl only has two, and one of those was spent in training."

"I guess that's true." Malon said. "But Impa knows what she's doing. I was only twenty-two when I was accepted into the SSC. I think it works well having a bunch of stronger, younger members being led by those two ancients."

I laughed at that description of Impa and Rauru.

"Those ancients are still upset about you leaving." I said, grinning.

"Of course they are." Malon grumbled. "They've both been barren and alone for…what? A thousand years? Nobody loves them. They've lost the ability to understand human emotions."

She laid down next to me on the couch. We were both disgusting after the long day of being outside, so I didn't care that she had been wearing bloody clothing a few moments before.

I had been a little concerned that Malon and I were rushing things by getting married so soon, but my fears had been mostly alleviated by the time the actual ceremony happened. Those concerns were shared and justified, but we had formed a bond through our time in combat that couldn't be broken. We had both seen each other's true colors while putting our lives on the line, and I knew I wouldn't regret my decision.

"I wonder how things are going back on Castle." Malon said.

"I've been avoiding Rauru's calls." I admitted. "I couldn't tell you."

"And I've been avoiding the news." Malon replied.

I envied Malon's new lifestyle. She had enough money saved up from her time in the SSC that she could live comfortably for the rest of her life without having to work. Naturally she couldn't do that, so she had taken a casual job as a wildlife maintenance officer with the Castle Park Service. That generally entailed eradicating invasive species, culling bad game animals, and catching poachers. She worked at her leisure, and her culling was done in the off season so that she didn't get in the way of legitimate hunters. Most of the time I was at work she was hunting, climbing mountains, and generally not giving a shit.

Malon had become the stereotypical veteran, and I was jealous.

That aside, I had never been this happy in my life. I even found some of my latent rage slowly dissipating, which was a nice feeling. I finally had someone to care about. Having a family had been something completely foreign to me, since I couldn't remember my parents, and I was enjoying the feeling.

Malon and I went through our standard evening ritual, eating dinner and spending some time with each other before going to bed. I woke up around mid-morning, well after Malon had gone back into the woods, and made my way out into the kitchen. I had plenty of time before Medli's shift started, so I stayed by the fire for as long as possible.

Finally, I found myself out in the snow watching her again. I had already gotten over the fact that this felt like stalking.

Basically nothing happened for the next several hours. Medli was simply hanging out in the watch tower, and didn't do as much patrolling that day. I went back in the evening, and then repeated the process again the next day.

After my third week of constant observation, something finally happened.

I saw the poachers before Medli did. There were four of them, probably all in their late teens. They were coming down from the mountains, but didn't look as if they were headed towards the village. They certainly weren't registered hunters, and I could see several illegal pairs of elk antlers hanging from their packs. The Faron Elk was a protected species, and these poachers looked like they had each killed one. If what they were doing wasn't destructive and illegal, I would have been impressed. They had likely traveled for days into the mountains to find a herd.

Their luck quickly ran out when Medli spotted them on thermals. At first, she didn't seem to think anything of their presence since she couldn't see the antlers with thermal view. That quickly changed as she caught a glimpse of them. Within seconds, she had vacated the camouflaged watch tower and was stalking closer to the boys.

 _Careful, they're carrying loaded weapons._ I thought, watching the event unfold through my scope. From my perch on a nearby hill, I could see everything going on. Three of the boys were carrying semi-automatic rifles, which would put Medli at a distinct disadvantage if they decided to fight back rather than be thrown in prison. She had left her rifle in the watch tower, which I thought was a particularly mind-numbing decision. That left her armed with only a handgun against four males with much bigger weapons.

I chambered a round quietly, hoping that I wouldn't need to use it. Whatever happened after this, I would be quietly returning to Castle without this girl. She had just shown complete disregard for her own safety and set herself up for failure.

She followed them for about two minutes before stepping out into a clearing in front of them. I turned on my TALOS suit's audio receiver so I could hear what she was saying.

"Hylian Forest Ranger." She called out, identifying herself briefly. "I'm detaining all four of you to perform a routine hunter's check. Unload your weapons and place them on the ground."

The four boys had frozen in place, and were now glancing at each other.

"I'm not going to repeat myself again." Medli said, this time a little more forcefully. "Drop the magazines out of your weapons, empty the chambers, and place them on the ground…"

She tapered off, squinting at one of the boys.

"Skett, are you serious?"

One of the boys, who I assumed was Skett, jumped as his name was mentioned. He had been trying to conceal his face.

"I thought you learned your lesson last time. Didn't you just get out of jail for poaching six months ago?"

Skett was trembling now. He was 1,007 meters away from me, so I put my crosshairs an inch above his heart. If he pointed his rifle at Medli, he would die.

"Just lay down on the ground. All of you." Medli said, her hand now resting on her handgun. "And Skett, don't you even _think_ of trying that same crap you pulled last time. You're all going to jail."

Skett started stammering, and one of the boys threw his rifle on the ground. The three with semi-autos didn't, though. They looked ready to fight.

"I'm not going back there." Skett said finally.

"Yes you are." Medli said. "You made the choice to poach elk, and now you're going to pay the price. You were in full control of your actions."

Skett took a few steps back as Medli approached, and finally raised his rifle slightly. I held off on shooting him, since he still wasn't actually aiming at her. The other two boys followed suit, while the fourth took a few steps back and separated himself from them.

"Oh, so now you're going to try to kill me?" Medli demanded. "Put that thing down before you get yourself hurt."

"I'm not going back there again." Skett said. "I'd rather die."

Medli stared him in the eyes. She hadn't drawn her handgun yet, which I thought was incredibly reckless. Her life was in immediate danger.

"Don't do this." Medli warned.

Skett raised his rifle, pointing it at Medli. I squeezed my own rifle's trigger, sending a round screaming across the tree tops just as he fired three shots. I pulled the bolt and aimed at one of the other two boys, but froze when I looked back through the scope.

Medli had all four boys in handcuffs on the ground, and was in the process of unloading the last rifle. My bullet had struck a tree behind her previous position, having failed to hit Skett, and she was now staring directly at me. She hadn't drawn her handgun throughout the entire process.

"Ranger command, shots fired." She said into her radio. "Four suspects detained, one shooter still active one thousand meters at eighty degrees from my position. Whoever it is was shooting at one of the suspects after he fired at me. Is there another Ranger in the vicinity?"

Not only had she detained four armed, grown males in less than two seconds, she had identified that through Skett's rifle fire that there was another person shooting and determined based on the trajectory of the bullet where I was within ten meters. She knew exactly who I had been shooting at and where I was shooting from, despite the fact that my rifle was heavily suppressed. Not only that, she had managed to pull Skett underneath my bullet's flight path.

I couldn't hear what her command team was saying over her radio, but I knew I needed to leave. I activated my optical camouflage and picked up my rifle, carefully making my way out of the woods. The second I reached the tree line at the village, though, I stopped.

I could feel Medli's presence behind me, and she could feel mine. I hardly dared to breathe, although I knew she wouldn't be able to hear it.

"There you are."

She put her hand on my shoulder.

 _Goddesses, how the hell did she find me?_

I deactivated my optical camouflage and turned to face her.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"I just knew." Medli replied. "You're the one who shot at Skett?"

"Yes," I said, "He was shooting at you."

She looked down at my TALOS suit, obviously intrigued.

"You're military." She pointed out. "Are you the one who's been hanging out around here for the past couple weeks?"

I nodded. This was really beginning to scare me.

"I was wondering who that was." Medli said, as if my presence hadn't concerned her in the slightest. "You're obviously not hunting, so why are you out in the woods?"

She had caught me, so it was only fair that I come clean.

"I'm scouting you." I said. "I'm a member of the Special Services Corps, which serves as Queen Zelda's personal task force and guard. You're in the final stages of selection, and I was observing you and deciding whether or not to recommend you as part of our unit."

"Oh." Medli said, looking at me curiously. "So you're with Malon?"

"I…er…yeah." I admitted, unsure how she had made that connection. "I'm her husband. She wanted to hunt, and her presence here allowed me to go undercover."

"Well, sort of." Medli said. "I knew someone was in there with her."

"How?" I asked.

"I can just feel it, you know?" Medli asked. "I know things like that. I can sense the presence of people and animals. It's a gift given to me by the goddesses."

I sighed, realizing that for once in my life I had been completely outwitted. I had even missed a shot, which in hindsight was a good thing.

Not to mention I had just gotten punked by a 19 year old girl. Malon was going to have a blast when she heard this story.

"So are you going to recommend me?" Medli asked curiously.

"After what I just saw and the fact that you found me, yes." I said. "If you accept, you'll be going back to Castle with me."

"Okay, I accept." Medli said.

I stared at her for a few moments.

"That was quick. You don't want to take some time to think about it?" I asked. "I'm sure Malon wouldn't mind staying a while longer to hunt."

"No, something is telling me that this is the right thing to do." Medli replied.

"Well…okay."

I was a little bit stumped. This wasn't at all what I had expected.

"You don't even want a job description?" I asked.

"No, I'm good. It sounds like fun."

She was right about that. I liked this job.

"All right, I'll submit the paperwork to your command." I said. "Pack your things and we'll head back to Castle when you're ready."

Medli grinned sheepishly.

"This is exciting. I'll pack quickly."

She jogged off towards the village while I stared after her, perplexed. That was one of the stranger experiences of my life, but I could tell that she was a veritable genius. Everything Impa had seen in this girl suddenly made sense. Her sixth sense would prove immensely effective when it came to guarding Zelda.

I walked back into the village, thoroughly defeated and slightly concerned with the sharpness of my own abilities. Medli certainly was the best of the best, and I was glad that I had seen her in action. My job was complete.

I was going back home.


	16. Part 2 Chapter 1

**Back to the drawing board for me. I hope you guys enjoyed the bridges as much as I enjoyed writing them. It's been a while since I got to come up with fresh content. Onwards to bigger and (hopefully) better things. Allow me to present Part 2, a year after I originally posted this story.**

Part 2

Chapter 1

Link

One year after the end of the war

…

Hyrule was finally at peace.

It seemed like all we had known for three years was war. Battle after battle, death after death. I had watched tens of thousands of people die, and I had killed hundreds of Collective soldiers. Maybe thousands. Four percent of the galaxy's population had been killed during three years, with most of the deaths happening at the start of the war. A third of my generation had been wiped out.

1 billion dead.

It was a sobering figure. A quarter million of those people were civilians, killed en masse by the Collective's terrorist attacks and bombings. Faron had been mostly spared, but Cutov and Castle were in rough shape. The main failure of the Collective was its targeting of innocents, which prevented it from winning the battle of public opinion and likely cost it at chance at defeating the Hylian Empire.

The newfound peace didn't mean my life was any less hectic. In the aftermath of the war, assassination attempts on politicians were on the rise. Zelda, in particular, was targeted about three times per month, and needed constant double supervision. The SSC was still short a member from when I came in, but Impa had funding to bring in up to two more people. Until suitable candidates were found, though, we were all working long hours.

Medli was fitting in well. Zelda had taken a liking to her immediately, which was good. Although we were supposed to maintain a mostly professional relationship with the queen, an unwritten exception was made for Medli to fraternize to her heart's content. Oftentimes, she would visit Zelda during her off hours, whenever the queen wasn't dealing with politics or Richard.

Richard had changed, and I was watching him like a hawk. There was something off about him, but I couldn't place exactly what it was. Ever since Spud had been deactivated, he had become incredibly dark and brooding. It felt like he was plotting something.

Rusl, Bo, and Rauru all assured me that I was imagining things. Sword shrugged when I brought it up with her. Medli hadn't known Richard beforehand, but she didn't feel good about him either. I hadn't spoken with Nabooru about it, since she was currently under a secret investigation by Black Ops leadership. Impa was the only one who truly sympathized with my concerns, but she assured me there wasn't much we could do about it.

"If he tries something, we'll be right there to stop him." She had said. "Otherwise we're not able to dictate who the queen can spend her time with."

I glanced over at Nabooru, careful to hide my suspicion as we walked up the stairs to the Queen's office. Zelda would be finishing her day fairly soon, and we were both assigned to work the night shift. For all my efforts to hide my distrust of Nabooru, she knew there was something going on. We never spoke unless absolutely necessary, and even then it was tense.

I sighed quietly, knowing that this was going to be a long shift. I wasn't able to tell Impa what I knew about Nabooru, because I would be required to submit proof that I couldn't provide. Furthermore, if Impa knew that I had been feeding information on a member of the SSC to a separate military organization, I would be jailed for treason. I was directly violating the SSC's charter and several thousand military regulations, although I would easily be cleared in a high-security court. Despite that, my reputation would be ruined. It was a situation I didn't want to deal with, so I was careful to be discreet about my activities.

For her part, Sword had never mentioned my conversation with the real Nabooru ever again. At first, I had been worried that she would report it after overhearing me, but it was clear now that she had no interest in doing that. Perhaps she shared my skepticism of the SSC's Nabooru, although I didn't dare bring it up with her.

When we entered Zelda's office, Rauru and Bo took their leave without a word.

"Oh, is it that time already?" Zelda wondered out loud, looking up at the clock.

"Yes, your majesty." Nabooru said. "You've already worked well past the end of the workday."

"Yeah, well what's new?" Zelda grumbled. "All right, I'll call it quits. I think Richard wanted to meet tonight. I haven't seen him in a couple days, so I'd like to spend some time together."

That meant that Nabooru and I wouldn't be in the same room, but it also got my attention.

"Where?" I asked, trying not to sound like I was prying.

 _It's my job to pry._

"Just in my room." Zelda replied, standing up. "We'll watch a movie or something. I don't know."

I scowled underneath my hood, but realized that I was probably just being paranoid. As Impa had said, I would be there in case anything went wrong.

We made our way up to Zelda's penthouse, where Richard was already waiting outside the door. He smiled brightly, sending shivers down my spine.

"Hey there."

Zelda giggled, but I was on edge. She led Richard into her room, closing and locking the door behind her. As much as I'd have liked to keep an eye on them the entire shift, I most certainly wasn't welcome in her room while they were doing whatever they were about to do.

 _Not that I'd want to watch the nerd from high school screw the queen, anyways._

I shook the thought from my head and sat down on the couch, turning on the TV to cover up whatever faint noises I would eventually hear from that room. Nabooru took a seat in the kitchen, fully engrossed in a puzzle game on Zelda's tablet. We didn't breathe a word to each other.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on my underlying current of magical energy. During the past few months I had been trying to attune myself to my new magical ability. It had been there ever since I dispelled Demise's curse, but I was still unsure how to properly use it. Unlike the dark magic I had once wielded, this energy couldn't be used to hurt others. It also didn't whisper to me at night, which was a nice bonus.

I reached out, spreading my aura across the room and reaching into every corner. I analyzed everything, but kept away from Nabooru. She would know immediately if I was prodding her with magical aura, and I wanted to avoid any interaction with her if possible.

In a slightly daring feat, I pushed my aura past Zelda's bedroom door and analyzed the magical situation in the room. I couldn't see or hear anything, which was merciful, but I could feel Zelda's aura. She wasn't paying attention to it.

I pushed myself even further, pausing as I felt something strange. Richard didn't have any magical ability, so he shouldn't have produced any sort of detectable aura. Yet, there was a distinctly different magical presence in the room than Zelda. I searched for it tentatively, finally pinpointing it. I didn't want to connect with it, but I needed to. It was my job.

I figuratively reached out and grasped the aura with my own, and then jumped.

I knew that aura.

"What's wrong?" Nabooru asked, looking up from her game.

"I…" I started, realizing I was on my feet. "Something in there isn't right."

"What isn't right?"

I reached out and touched the aura again, this time nearly yelping as it reacted and attacked my presence in the room. I turned the TV off so I could listen and, not hearing any noises from Zelda's room, began to feel even more concerned.

"Zelda's in danger." I said.

"What do you mean?" Nabooru asked. "The only person in there is Richard."

"No, that's not Richard. At least not on the inside."

I racked my brain, hesitating even though I knew what I had to do.

"Link, you sound like an idiot. Sit down and let them fuck in peace."

"I'm telling you, something's wrong." I said, striding over to Zelda's door and putting my ear up to it. There was still no noise.

Nabooru sighed and stood up, coming over to stand behind me.

"Are you serious about doing this?" She asked. "I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong in there. All you're going to accomplish is making her furious and probably getting fired."

"It's my job to keep her safe." I said. "If that involves me busting in at a bad moment, then so be it."

Nabooru groaned.

"Fine, but I'm not going with you."

I put my ear up to the door again. Finally, I could hear Zelda's voice.

"Richard?"

He didn't respond.

"Richard, what are you doing? That hurts."

I felt a small prick at the base of my neck, and suddenly my legs felt like cement. I turned clumsily, shocked as I saw Nabooru throw a syringe to the ground and draw her sword.

"I've waited years for this moment, and I won't have you interrupting it. My master will have his vengeance."

Zelda yelled from inside the room, and I heard a slap. I couldn't believe what was happening. Had Nabooru just drugged me with a paralyzing agent?

"You bitch." I said, finding that my mouth still worked fine. "What are you doing?"

"I'm surprised you're still alive. I gave you twice the lethal dose for your weight." Nabooru said.

I tried to draw my handgun, but only managed to clumsily pull it out of the holster and drop it to the floor. My right knee gave out, forcing me to lean against the wall to stay upright. I couldn't even activate the panic alarm without my hands, since I didn't have my helmet on.

Nabooru pointed her sword at me, pressing it underneath my chin.

"I think I'll let you listen to the queen get murdered by my master, if you can live that long."

I scowled, barely maintaining my hold on the wall. Zelda and Richard were actually fighting now. There were several thuds and crashes, and I heard her gagging as she was choked.

 _Goddesses, no!_

I willed myself upright, but my legs couldn't stop my forward motion and I had to drop down to a knee. I tried fumbling for my handgun where it had landed on the ground, but it was no use. I couldn't muster the strength required to wrap my fingers around the grip.

"It's quite a strong concoction." Nabooru said. "I've been perfecting it in my room for years. I'll tell you what, though, you've already lasted ten times longer than Ralis did when I injected him with this stuff. Nobody ever suspected anything, either. Even Impa thought he'd been killed by magic."

I gritted my teeth and tried to look up at her, but even my head was feeling heavy.

"You twisted fuck." I growled.

Zelda was still fighting for her life, and I heard her faintly call my name.

Then she called it again, but louder. This time, I heard it in my mind. She had connected with my aura, which was still permeating the entire penthouse.

 _Link, is this you?! Richard is trying to kill me! Help!_

She was in a state of sheer panic.

 _Nabooru is trying to kill me. Fight back as hard as you can._ I replied, hoping she could hear my thoughts. I hadn't ever tried this before.

I felt a wave of heat through the door, and flames licked through the small cracks. Several windows shattered, and Nabooru grinned.

"Sounds like they've having fun in there."

I tried again to grab my handgun, but the poison was spreading. I couldn't even move my arms now.

 _Zelda, fight him with everything you've got. I can't move. Nabooru is going to kill me, so you need to escape. Get to the SSC building or find Malon at my house._

There was no response, but I could hear Zelda yelling on the other side of the door. Her and Richard were battling with magic, confirming my suspicions. The aura I had felt earlier was Demise's curse. The Master Sword had only chased it to a new host.

I called up every ounce of strength I had and looked up at Nabooru. If she was going to kill me, I would look her in the eyes while she did it.

"You're certainly the courageous one." She said, pressing her sword underneath my chin again. "Don't worry, it sounds like it's almost over in there. Then I'll start figuring out who you were feeding information to."

I gritted my teeth, furious that she knew about that.

My thoughts went to Malon, and I felt an immeasurable sadness at the thought of her being alone again. I had promised her I wouldn't die, but it looked like I was about to break my word.

 _No._

I jumped. That wasn't my own voice, and it wasn't Zelda's. Yet it was in my head. Time seemed to have frozen.

 _You don't need to be afraid. You were just discovering how to use your power, so I think I'll give you a boost._

A wave of energy washed over me, and golden light exploded from my body. In an instant, the paralysis was gone. I swept Nabooru's sword aside before she realized what was going on and fired three shots at her chest. All three shots hit, sending her falling back. When she hit the ground, she disappeared into a cloud of black mist. She wasn't dead, but she wasn't here anymore either.

An explosion in Zelda's room redirected my attention. In an instant, I kicked the door down and stormed inside. Zelda had her back to me, and was locked in a heated magical battle with Richard. I stepped around her and emptied my magazine into his chest, but it looked as if the bullets only annoyed him.

Zelda flung a bolt of light, which blasted out the side of the castle as Richard deflected it. I knew what I needed to do now, and drew the Master Sword.

Richard redirected his attention to me as I charged at him, firing several black tendrils of magical energy in my direction. I hacked them away, and Zelda took advantage of the distraction to unload nearly all of her energy into Richard's chest. She scored a solid hit, sending him flying out the now open wall of the tower. His body disintegrated into the same black mist I had seen Nabooru turn into.

I stared out into the rain for a moment, ensuring that the danger was over, and then turned back to Zelda. She was beaten to a pulp and stripped naked, but alive. Her left eye was swelling up, and she had distinct bruises around her neck. She had fallen to her knees and was staring up at me in shock. Immediately, I grabbed a blanket off her bed and threw it over her to preserve some level of modesty.

"You're okay now." I said, taking her in my arms. "It's over."

She started shaking uncontrollably, but I held onto her. In a testament to her strength, she didn't shed a single tear or devolve into histrionics. All she did was bury her face in my chest and take deep breaths.

I activated my TALOS suit's emergency radio and linked into the SSC headquarters with maximum encryption. Even though half the city could have seen the side of the tower explode, this incident could still potentially be contained. Most people were inside by now because of the storm.

"Anyone there?" I asked.

"Link, what the hell is going on up there?!" Impa asked breathlessly. She was already running.

"I… I don't know." I said. "The queen is safe, and I'm alive. Tier one assassination attempt."

Impa didn't reply for several seconds.

"One of us?!"

I hesitated.

"It was Nabooru and Richard."

…

The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity, but I stuck next to Zelda the entire time. She started panicking every time I left, even if the other SSC members were present. I couldn't blame her, since she had just been betrayed by one of her own guards and her boyfriend at the same time. Her paranoia would pass, but it would take time.

Rauru was working damage control with the media, which was proving difficult. Fortunately the castle was extremely old and still had gas lines running through the walls. One of those gas lines had been severed when Zelda blew the wall to pieces, so we had simply released a statement saying that the line had ruptured on its own. Because we couldn't conceal Zelda's injuries indefinitely, we had added that she had been injured in the blast. The story would satisfy all but the most skeptical observers and those who had directly observed the explosion.

The more important task was to find out what had happened. I hadn't been wearing my helmet at the time of the attack, and there weren't any cameras in Zelda's penthouse. The only facts from the case were coming directly from my memory and, eventually, Zelda's. Furthermore, my word was the only thing assuring Nabooru's betrayal, and Zelda was the only one who knew exactly what had happened with Richard until several seconds before he had been thrown from the tower.

The syringe Nabooru had deposited on the ground had turned into important evidence. It had her fingerprints on it, and Rusl had searched her room to find the depository the poison came from. I took a sample of my blood, which was still loaded with several times the theoretical lethal dose, and provided the only hard evidence we had against Nabooru.

I called Malon when my shift was supposed to end, telling her I wouldn't be home for a while. She didn't even bother asking what had happened, since she knew I couldn't say over the phone. I would tell her in private if I ever made it back. I was definitely ready to get some sleep, but I knew that wasn't going to be possible for a while.

Zelda had relocated to Malon's old room in the SSC headquarters, and I was hanging out there for the night. We had transitioned to triple security, and the rest of the SSC guards were feeling a little jaded. Throughout Hylian history, a Royal Family guard had never attempted to assassinate the regent or any member of the family. In fact, even the Council guards had always remained staunchly loyal. There was absolutely no precedent for this betrayal.

I was more worried that Nabooru had gotten the best of me. If my magic hadn't activated, I would be lying in a pool of my own blood right now. Instead, I was sitting in a recliner while Zelda tossed and turned in Malon's old bed. Medli and Rusl were also in the room.

"Link, you can sleep if you want." Rusl said, noting the dark circles around my eyes.

I shook my head.

"I'm tired, but I don't think I could sleep yet." I said.

He sighed.

"Who would have ever guessed this?"

I stared out the window, scowling.

"I would have. I should have."

Medli and Rusl both looked at me curiously.

"How would you have possibly known that?" Rusl asked. "She tricked Impa, Rauru, and several dozen tests. Nothing suspicious was ever turned up on her."

"Yes, there were plenty of suspicious things." I said. "I was…"

I sighed. I knew I was going to have to come clean now, but I wanted Impa to be the first to hear about it. A little cooperation between Black Ops and the SSC would be beneficial in this investigation.

"I'll just have to tell you guys later." I said.

Rauru opened the door and peeked in, saving me from answering any further questions.

"Link, your blood test just came back." He said. "It tested positive for suxamethonium chloride, but there was more to that poison. I want you to go to the hospital."

I shook my head.

"I'm fine." I said. "If this stuff were going to kill me, it would have happened hours ago."

"I'm serious. You need to get out of here." Rauru said. "At the very least, you don't need to be working right now. If you won't go to the hospital, go home so Malon can watch over you."

I looked over at Zelda, worried that she would be upset that I wasn't there when she woke up.

"She'll be fine." Rusl said. "She just needs some sleep, and I know she trusts the rest of us. We've always had a good relationship with her."

I sighed and stood up, admitting to myself just how badly I wanted to go home.

"If she wants me to come back in the morning, I will." I said, throwing my cloak over my shoulders and putting the hood over my head.

"She might, but don't come back." Rauru said. "I've put you on administrative leave for two days, as is standard policy after a second assassination attempt."

I scowled at him.

"When was… You mean you're counting that attempt that happened on my first shift?"

"Yes, all attempts count." Rauru replied.

I was careful to keep my voice down, but I wanted him to know I was upset about this.

"That was over a year ago. If you're going on triple coverage, you need me here."

Rauru sighed.

"Link, go home and wait. We'll be fine. I can terminate the administrative leave early if you're needed that bad, but none of us wants you here working yourself half to death."

I shook my head and brushed past him on the way out. I was angry about his decision, but I understood. If I were willing to be honest with myself, I would admit that I needed a few days off after what just happened. My mind had its limits.

My body did too, apparently. I nearly had to call Malon and have her come get me as I walked home, but after stopping to rest a few times I managed to make it through the dark streets and into my East District home. When I stumbled through the door, I found Malon still awake despite the fact that it was well past four in the morning. She looked up at me, concerned.

"Link…"

She ran over and caught me as I fell, dragging me to the couch and taking my cloak off. I felt my armor plates unlock and fall to the floor.

"It was Nabooru." I muttered.

Malon stared at me in shock.

"What did she do?"

"She tried to kill me, and Richard tried to kill Zelda. It was planned. Coordinated."

I could barely keep my eyes open, but Malon deserved to know what happened.

"My goddesses… Why?!" She asked.

"It's Demise's curse. Richard has been taken over by it, and for some reason Nabooru is working with him." I replied. "She injected me with poison and tried to make me listen to Richard kill Zelda, but I shot her and…"

I jerked back awake, realizing I was dozing off.

"I shot her and then Zelda blew the side of the castle off to get Richard away from her."

"They're dead?" Malon asked.

I shook my head.

"No bodies. They're just hiding. I don't think they're on Castle anymore."

Malon looked around, worried.

"I'll know if they're here." I said. "I need to sleep now."

I didn't wait for Malon to respond. I had fallen asleep before my eyes were fully closed.

…

Zelda

…

I had served as Hyrule's regent for nearly a decade, going through some of the hardest times and the bloodiest war in the empire's history. Several days ago, I had mused to myself that nothing could ever bother me again. I was too jaded. Too calloused to the ways of the world and the daily hassles of my job.

I was wrong.

This betrayal ran deep. On its face, Nabooru's attempt to block Link from saving me was completely unexpected. Impa had run the SSC for thirty years, and had never once made a mistake like this. Her selection process took immense amounts of time and research, and involved several intensive record checks _before_ a candidate knew he or she was being considered for the job. Afterwards, a candidate was magically and medically examined. There were no secrets among the SSC.

At least I had thought there weren't. It occurred to me now that Link's Black Ops involvement was unknown to the rest of the SSC, and now Nabooru's motivations had come as a complete surprise. I found myself doubting Impa's ability to effectively run the organization, but I had to remind myself that her record was spotless for thirty years before this.

And then there was Richard.

Nabooru's betrayal hurt, but Richard's burned. Even worse, Link was the only person who had suspected anything, and nobody had taken him seriously. According to Rusl he had voiced his concerns to everyone except Nabooru, which made me wonder if he had seen all of this coming.

When I woke up, I almost made an impulse decision to fire Impa, but I knew I would regret doing that later. Furthermore, I had no illusions that Link wanted her job, and he was the only one I trusted enough to give it to.

When I rolled over and looked at the room, I was disappointed to find that he wasn't there. I knew he couldn't work forever, but I wanted to talk to him. Instead, Medli and Bo were watching over me.

"Where's Link?" I asked immediately.

"Rauru sent him home." Bo said, looking at me with concern. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm bruised, beaten, and betrayed." I said, knowing I was being too short with him. "I want to talk to Impa and Link immediately."

"I'm afraid Link went home to recover." Medli said. "Impa is upstairs, and Rauru is dealing with the media."

I looked at the clock, seeing that it was already mid-morning, and rolled out of bed. My legs were still shaking from the amount of magical energy I had used yesterday.

"It's probably best if-"

"No." I said, stopping Bo mid-sentence. "I'll be getting up now. I'm about to rain hell down on Impa's life."

Medli looked up at me, concern evident on her face.

"Zelda, I don't know if that's…" She started awkwardly. "I don't know how much Impa could have done. Nobody could have seen this coming."

"But Link did." I pointed out.

Both Bo and Medli looked down at their feet, ashamed.

I groaned and sat back down. My legs weren't quite ready to cooperate.

"Sweet goddesses." I muttered.

"Was that really all you?" Medli asked. "You blew the side of the tower apart?"

"Believe it or not, Zelda far outpaces all of us in magical ability." Bo said, interjecting before I had to answer. "In a battle of magic, we'd all be screwed."

"And yet when I was attacked, I was almost helpless because physically I can't compete in the slightest."

I found myself frustrated with that fact, as well. Richard had physically overpowered me, only resorting to magic once I had used it myself. He had never been a very strong person due to the amount of hours he spent locked in the IT room downstairs, but even then I hadn't been able to defend myself against him.

I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be self-reliant. Most of all, though, I wanted to be able to trust the people closest to me.

After a few minutes I got back up again, this time making it out of the room and upstairs. Impa was sitting at the table in the SSC's living area having a discussion with several heads of imperial agencies. They all fell silent when I walked in the room.

"Tell me what's going on." I said, wanting to hear everything from Impa before I exploded. She knew I was furious, but it wasn't showing in her demeanor.

"We've established that Nabooru and Richard survived, as Link suspected, and identified which ship they left Castle in. By the time we had narrowed it down in the logs, they had already escaped. However, we know where they're going."

Sword rushed upstairs carrying a filled rucksack and her katana, drawing Impa's attention for a moment.

"Medli and Link have both been informed, and will be ready shortly."

Impa nodded and turned back to me as Sword left the building.

"They're on Faron." She continued. "The ship landed in the southern hemisphere near the capital. Link, Medli, and Sword are all from Faron, so they're going to be pursuing them."

"How are they not dead?" I asked. "Link shot Nabooru three times, and I hit Richard with the most powerful bolt of light magic I've ever thrown."

"I don't know." Impa replied. "Hopefully we'll get answers to that question when they're found. In the meantime, I've already got crews working on your loft. It should be fully repaired by tomorrow."

I looked at the leaders gathered in the room, and then nodded towards the door. They stood up and left immediately, leaving me alone in the room with Impa. I took a deep breath, and then looked over at her.

"Would you care to explain why the hell a deep cover agent was planted within my own personal guard for almost a decade?"

If Impa was struggling with being scolded, she didn't show it.

"Your majesty, if you think I wasn't up all night looking for the answer to that question, you're absolutely wrong." She replied. "Even in hindsight, there's nothing to suggest that Nabooru had ill intentions. This attack is without precedent, and was obviously extremely well planned."

"If she was going to do this, why wait so long?" I asked.

"At this point, I can only go off of what Link told me he felt." Impa said. "Richard's aura shouldn't exist, but it consisted of the same dark magic that Link himself used to possess. I believe that Demise's curse has invaded Richard's mind and corrupted him, and Nabooru was there to create an opportunity for her master to kill you himself. It likely took the curse this long to fully corrupt Richard's mind and force him to do this, which is why he didn't try sooner."

"Does that mean Nabooru is aligned with the Church of Eta Ali?" I asked. "They're said to worship Demise, although we don't know that for sure. And they're certainly a Gerudo organization."

"It's entirely possible." Impa said. "I can't confirm that for now."

I looked down at my hands and sighed. All the rage I had felt at Impa's failure had begun to subside, and I no longer felt the overwhelming urge to dispose of her. I was disappointed, but she had been my most loyal follower since before I had risen to the throne.

"Very well." I said, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Impa asked.

"I'm going to the council to tell them what happened."

I knew she didn't want me to do that, but I had been careful to stay out of the habit of lying to the people. It was transparency and accountability that kept my position relevant.

"I see." Impa said. "I'll go with you, then. Let me try to cover up those bruises before you show your-"

I shook my head.

"I will not hide behind makeup and lies." I said. "They deserve to know the whole story, from beginning to end."

With that, I opened the door and walked out into the cold Castle winter.

…

Link

…

Malon had woken me up ten minutes ago when Medli had shown up at the house. I had an hour to leave for Faron, where Nabooru and Richard had landed in the capital on the western coast of the main continent. I didn't know how long I would be there, what environments I would be working in, or even what the mission was. I just knew I was leaving, and that was enough for me.

As I packed my TALOS armor, Malon came in the bedroom and looked at me seriously.

"I'm going. I can help."

I opened my mouth to argue, but it would just waste time.

"You'll need to do something about your hair." I said. "We're going to need to lay low, and you're the least Faron-looking person in occupied space."

"We can figure it out while we travel." Malon replied.

A few minutes later, we were both packed and ready to go. Sword and Medli showed up at my door, and soon I found myself boarding a small civilian transport ship at the airport. Not a word was said about Malon's presence as she followed me on.

The ship took off a few minutes later, and I watched as Castle slipped away. As much as I enjoyed visiting Faron, this was my home now. Even the brutal winter, which I had never had to experience on Faron and in climate-controlled Navy carriers, felt completely natural. Hopefully this mission wouldn't take long and I could return soon, but I had a nagging feeling that that wasn't going to be the case. In that regard, I was glad Malon had decided to tag along. I always missed her when we were separated.

Once we had all gotten situated, Sword pulled a few maps up on a screen and started going over what we knew. She was in charge of this mission, and would be calling the shots.

"Richard and Nabooru departed for Faron last night on a ship that was not logged with Castle's Planetary Defense." She said. "It's not clear yet how they reached Faron so quickly, but it doesn't matter. We're going to get there, find them, and kill them. If an opportunity to capture them presents itself, we can take it, but a kill order has already been issued by the courts."

I stared at her for a second.

"Richard, at least, shouldn't be killed." I said. "It's the curse doing this, not him. Plus the curse will just move to someone else or go into temporary dormancy if its host is killed."

"We don't know enough about it to worry about that." Sword said. "Capture him if the opportunity presents itself, but kill him otherwise."

I nodded, but I knew I wouldn't kill him if I had the choice. Nabooru, on the other hand, wouldn't be receiving such deferential treatment.

"We're going to be laying low." Sword said. "Our ship is landing south of Lanayru in a medium-sized town called Sanctuary. The population is large enough there that visitors don't receive special attention, but also small enough that there won't be as many eyes around. Once we have more specifics on Richard and Nabooru's possible location, we'll move to them and do whatever is necessary."

We talked for a while longer about the specifics of the plan, but it was all fairly straightforward. Land, gather information, locate the targets, and kill them. Malon wouldn't be directly participating, but would act as our eyes and ears around the cities we visited. After the meeting was over, I spent several hours helping her to change her appearance, starting with her hair color.

Her accent was hopeless. She tried valiantly to copy mine, but it was proving too difficult. Even more of a problem was the fact that my accent was exotic to most of Faron's population, since I was an islander. The only workable solution was to make Malon look like the nomads that inhabited Snowpeak Province, the northern reach of Faron's most populous continent. Her skin was pale enough, but coloring her bright red hair to almost-white proved to be a torturous process. The northerners also had red eyes due to hundreds of generations of lessened melanin production, which would be hard to reproduce. Until I could find some sort of colored contacts on Faron, she would need to wear dark sunglasses around others. Fortunately that was a believable alternative, as northerners typically didn't fare well in the bright light of the west coast.

Once I finished coloring her hair white for a fourth time, I sat back down and looked at her. To the average inhabitant of Lanayru, the guise would be believable enough. The city was far enough south and warm enough during the year that Snowpeak inhabitants rarely visited. Her accent was strange enough that even another northerner might attribute it to regional differences, meaning that she would just have to avoid drawing attention to herself.

It took an entire day to reach Faron. We landed in Sanctuary's airport, and were only slightly harassed by the local security guards about our abundance of military-grade weapons. Fortunately, weapons laws were quite a bit more lenient on Faron than they were on Castle, which translated to a much easier customs experience. Medli's submachine gun barely even got a second glance.

Our hotel was about as unassuming as we could ask for. We rented three rooms under fake identities for an unspecified amount of time, and then snuck our armor and weapons in through the windows after dark. For the most part, it seemed as if we avoided any unwanted attention. It took several more hours to set up a command post in Sword's room, including a classic information board. As we gathered information about Nabooru and Richard, we would post it on the board and try to make connections.

Before I could sleep, I had one more call to make. Malon knew about my Black Ops involvement, so I didn't bother leaving the room. It took a while to connect to the encrypted line and confirm my identity, but eventually I got through to the real Nabooru, who also happened to be my reserves commander.

"You've heard what happened?" I asked, not bothering with any sort of formalities.

"Naturally."

"And you know what actually happened?"

"Queen Zelda went before the council and the media today and told everyone what happened. Did you not hear?"

I paused, realizing that I hadn't watched the news.

"No, I didn't know."

"You're being lauded as a hero again for saving her life. She really talked you up."

I sighed, wishing I hadn't had that kind of attention drawn to myself. It was politics, though, and there was nothing I could do about it at this point.

"What do you know about the fake Nabooru?" I asked, getting to the point.

"Based on the information you've been sending me for the last year and a half, and the fact that she's been undercover for almost a decade, I believe 'Nabooru' is actually Aveil. She went off the grid right after me, which would explain how she was able to use my identity. She just picked up my entire persona when I disappeared."

"Didn't you disappear from the military twenty years ago?" I asked.

"Yes, which means she spent nearly a decade conning her way past Impa and into the SSC using my identity." Nabooru replied.

"Who is she?" I asked, hoping for clarification. "As in, who was Aveil before she took your identity?"

"In short, she's a rebel." Nabooru said. "Back on Cutov, she started a textbook mutiny in the Navy and tried to take over a destroyer. Ultimately she failed, and it was thought that she died in the attack. I'll admit that I believed it myself, but there were hundreds of bodies lying around afterwards. For all we know, she used a flesh clone of herself and successfully fooled the overworked forensic investigators. The DNA would have been the same, after all."

"Is she a warlord?" I wondered.

"Yes, or she'd never have convinced anyone to follow her."

The Gerudo occupied their own branch of the army, led by warlords instead of generals. The Navy destroyers were integrated, unlike the Cutov ground force, but there were many Gerudo who wanted to segregate those as well. It was thought that the push for a segregated Navy was an objective of the Eta Ali, although that was just speculation at this point. The Church of Eta Ali, after all, wasn't fully confirmed to even exist. We only had trace evidence of the group's existence, much less proof of what their motives were.

"Any idea where I might find her?"

Nabooru was silent for a moment, but finally spoke up.

"I traced their location to Lanayru, and I'm getting the feeling you did too since you're calling me from Sanctuary."

"Yeah, that's right." I said, not asking how she knew that.

"Well I've got a hunch, and I could be completely wrong, but something is telling me that the Eta Ali attack on Koholint Island had a purpose. And I'm also thinking Aveil is involved with Eta Ali. Ultimately, though, my hunch is telling me to send you to Koholint. I think you might find some answers there."

I didn't know what to say. I hadn't returned there since the attack five years ago, since the memory of my friends' bodies piled in the center of Mabe Village was too painful. Everyone I had grown up with had been killed in that attack, and I had been required to help identify the bodies.

On the other hand, Nabooru's hunches were usually correct.

I sighed, knowing what I needed to do.

"You've never given me a reason to doubt you." I said. "I'll go check it out."

"Okay," Nabooru replied, "I'm sorry to do this to you. I just feel like Koholint is somehow involved in all of this."

"Yeah, I understand." I said. "Look, I wanted to talk to you about something else. I think it's time the SSC and Black Ops start working together. You already have a liaison, and our combined knowledge could be a force to reckon with. Plus I need to explain to my team why we're running off to what's supposedly a haunted island several hundred kilometers to the southwest."

Nabooru paused.

"All right, that's fine." She said. "I figured this would happen eventually, and half of the active SSC members have received a Black Ops offer at some point anyways. You're the only one who actually passed selection, but some of the others know."

I was a little surprised, but not entirely.

"Who?" I asked.

"Malon, as I'm sure you've already figured out. She turned down the offer entirely." Nabooru said. "Ralis was made an offer before he joined the SSC, but failed selection. In his younger years, Rusl was offered a spot, but he turned it down because he didn't want to leave the SSC. Saria attended selection and failed near the end."

"Saria?" I asked, recognizing the name. "We don't…"

I froze. Suddenly everything made sense. I had never connected Sword to Saria before, but it seemed so obvious.

"Oh, I guess you've still never seen her face." Nabooru said. "Don't tell her I told you. I forgot she conceals her identity."

"Goddesses, Nabooru." I said, hardly believing this. "You can't drop something like this on me by accident. Is this the same Saria that I know from Koholint?"

"Of course it is. That's a region-specific name."

This cleared up a lot of questions. First and foremost, it explained a lot about Sword's behavior. Saria had always been reserved and secretive when we were kids. She was two years older than me, but I had always noticed her sitting away from her classmates at school. In the two years I had been in high school with her, she never spoke to anyone. From what I was told, she was an exceptional student and trained at a higher level than all of the male athletes during physical fitness. After graduation, she had joined the Marines to fulfill her service requirement, at which point I hadn't heard from her again.

Turns out, I had been working with her for the past year and a half.

"Shit, I've got to sort this out." I said. "I'll let you know if anything comes up."

"Got it." Nabooru said, and then cut the connection. I could already see a million questions on Malon's face.

"It's Sword." I said, answering her question before she could ask it.

"Her name is Saria?" She asked.

I nodded, opening the pictures up on my tablet and sifting through to the oldest ones.

"Here." I said, showing her a picture of my high school's class from eight years ago. It would have been Saria's senior year. I zoomed in on Saria's distinct green hair.

"She's so… innocent." Malon said hesitantly. "Are you sure it's the same person?"

"That's what I was just told." I said. "It explains a lot, honestly. I didn't know her well in high school, but from what I saw of her this is completely believable."

"She's actually pretty. I don't know why she covers her face up all the time." Malon said.

"You think I should say something?" I asked. She shook her head.

"For whatever reason, she wants her identity to remain a secret. We should respect that until she reveals herself or the situation demands it."

I nodded and laid down in bed, ready for a solid night of sleep. Even though our mission was just beginning, and we had very few leads from this point on, I felt optimistic. With Richard's corruption and disappearance, I had thought I was the only person left from Koholint Island. Apparently that wasn't the case.

Even if Saria concealed her identity from me and didn't particularly like me, at least I wasn't completely alone in my heritage. It would help to have someone else who suffered the same loss go back to Koholint with me.

With that, I drifted off. Tomorrow was going to be a long, difficult day.


	17. Part 2 Chapter 2

**So I finally graduated from college and I'm working full time (I do HAZMAT stuff. It's kind of cool). Needless to say, though, 40 hour weeks have an impact on my writing. I'll probably work through chapters a little slower, but I hope my quality will improve.**

 **Also I just watched the Breath of the Wild trailer and I AM SO FREAKING HYPED**

Part 2 Chapter 2

Zelda

The media storm lasted for several days, but died down fairly rapidly in light of the approaching holiday season. The Festival of the Goddesses in Castle Town drowned out any sort of negativity surrounding Nabooru's betrayal, which was good for my sanity. Link had recently informed Impa that Nabooru's true identity was that of Aveil, a Gerudo warlord previously listed as missing-in-action. Although the news was bad, at least progress had been made.

I was still paranoid about nearly everything, but I knew I could trust the SSC. Even in the worst-case scenario, I had still been protected. Ultimately I had to move on and continue doing my job as if nothing had happened, if only to preserve the image of the monarch. An extended vacation from my duties would only make me look weak.

A more pressing concern now was a small but growing independence movement on Faron, which had so far escaped news and governmental reporting. It was estimated that five percent of Faron's population supported independence from Hyrule, despite the fact that their government was mostly self-run. This was likely leftover sentiment from the war with the now defunct King's Collective, and it would require immediate attention. Being an economic hub of trade, as well as the empire's primary source of many metals used in naval vessels, Faron was more important to the empire than even Castle. Due to its relatively peaceful history, I had removed all but a token military force from the area, installing the forest rangers and a single Army division to maintain the Hylian military capacity on the planet. Unfortunately that meant that if there was an insurrection it would take several weeks to respond.

The lack of military presence had its benefits. Ultimately those troops had been needed elsewhere during the war and post-war reconstruction. Furthermore, the people of Faron generally kept to themselves and appreciated being left alone. There was a strong militia culture among its residents, especially around the capital. Because of that, I was very careful to let Faron's planetary government make the vast majority of its decisions. The planet's governor only answered to me, and its parliament had veto power over any decisions made by Castle's council. Taxes were kept low, since the planet held so much manufacturing and production power. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, and I intended to keep it that way.

I did not, however, intend to let Faron separate from the Hylian Empire.

Linebeck, Faron's governor, had no intentions of rebellion, either. Both of us were in agreement that our respective territories were better off when we worked together. Faron didn't have the military might necessary to protect itself without Hyrule, and Hyrule's economy would tank without Faron. Even a friendly alliance would be unacceptable at this point. The Empire's constitution didn't allow for separation, so it was a moot point. Hyrule's three main planets would stand together and fall together.

As I pored over various reports and news articles, it became increasingly obvious that I should have given Faron more of my attention in the past few months. It had been left reeling from the economic effects of the military downsizing over the past few months, which likely spurred some of the anti-Hyrule sentiment.

I checked the time in Faron's capital and, seeing that it was still midday, decided to call Linebeck and conduct a status check. I hadn't done this in months, and hadn't given him any advanced notice, but he likely expected it regardless.

It took several minutes to establish a secure connection through the quantum entanglement connection, but I was eventually able to get through to the capital office.

"Governor's office, how can I help you?" The secretary said when she answered the phone.

"I need to speak with the governor, please."

She scoffed.

"Do you have an authorization code to do so?"

I chuckled to myself, realizing she hadn't checked the caller ID.

"Look at your caller display." I said, grinning to myself. This was one of the small pleasures I took in my job. There was a small squeak from the other end of the line, and then the secretary tried to stammer out a few words.

"It's okay." I said, cutting off her apology. "Just forward me to the governor."

"Y-yes, your majesty. It'll take him a… a minute. He's in a meeting. I'm certain he'll end it quickly."

Linebeck didn't waste much time picking up his own phone once the call was transferred. Apparently he was better at reading the names of incoming callers than his secretary.

"Your majesty." He said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just a status check." I said. "I'm reading reports of separatist protests in Faron. How much truth is behind that?"

Linebeck paused awkwardly.

"I'll admit, I was hoping to get it under control before you noticed." He said. "Regardless, they're small. I've generally refrained from using the police to break them up, and I think a lot of the protestors are actually just paid actors."

"You think?" I asked, wanting him to explain.

"Of those that have been arrested, nearly half claim to have been paid to participate." Linebeck replied. "Obviously only the violent protestors have been detained, so the actual percentage of paid protestors may be inflated, but that's the only reliable information I can give you."

"Where's the money coming from?" I asked.

"We don't know. They were all paid in cash and didn't know the name of the people paying them."

"Well, I trust that you'll get to the bottom of it." I said. "Has that sentiment affected your parliament at all?"

"No, not that I'm aware of." Linebeck answered. "I think the reports have probably overstated the relevance of these protests. It's just a movement, and it'll pass soon. The media is having a field day with it, but in a month it will have passed."

"I hope you're right." I said. "I've been meaning to let you know directly that we believe my would-be assassin escaped to Faron. I've got my people on it, but I need you to be proactive in keeping that quiet."

"Shad sent me a brief report about it yesterday." Linebeck said. "Do you think the protests are related to that?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "I'll keep you updated as I learn more, but for now just keep on your toes."

"Very well. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing that hasn't been covered in Shad's reports." I said.

"Okay, I'll be in contact."

I cut the line and shuffled through the other reports on my tablet. There wasn't anything from Link yet, which was slightly disappointing. I was hoping they would make quick progress, but I knew that was too much to ask for. I had had trouble issuing the kill order for Richard, but Aveil received no such luxury. I couldn't wait to see the pictures of her lifeless corpse.

I had a feeling Link would deliver.

Something in the back of my daily reports folder caught my eye. It was addressed from Umbra, which was the codename for the ranking Black Ops officer. I spent several minutes reading the report, and then closed my tablet. With a press of a button, I summoned Shad. He entered the room, looking a little confused.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"Get a discreet civilian ship prepared." I said. "I'm going to visit Faron."

Rusl looked at me from the corner of the room, surprised, but didn't say anything.

"Is that what you were on the phone with Linebeck about?" Shad asked curiously.

"No, he doesn't know." I said. "I'd like to keep it that way."

"I see." Shad said. "What time are you leaving, and how long will you be gone?"

"I'll visit the council meeting today before the recess." I said. "That will cover my absence for at least two weeks."

"You think you'll be gone that long?"

I shrugged.

"We'll see."

Shad nodded.

"I'll have the ship ready to leave at six, then." He said.

"Thank you." I said. Shad left in a hurry, and I leaned back in my chair.

"What's your concern?" Rusl asked.

"Just a hunch." I said. "I'll leave it at that."

I sat in silence for a few minutes, and then decided to spend the rest of the time before the meeting in my room preparing. When I made it upstairs and flopped down on my bed for a nap, I marveled at how quickly the loft had been repaired.

For a few brief minutes, I had a chance to think. Not that I didn't do that regularly, but usually it involved work. Every now and then, though, I got to think about my personal life. This was one of those moments.

It would be hard without Richard there. Now that he was gone, I missed him more than I ever thought I would. Even during the extended period of time that he had been locked in Spud's control room, there had been hope. Now there was nothing. He was gone. Even if he was alive, I would never have him back. That was a painful pill to swallow.

I was now becoming increasingly aware of my lack of friends. Medli, Link, and Malon were all on a different planet, which left me guarded by the older members of the SSC. While they tried their best to provide moral support, they could all practically be my parents. I had a better connection with the younger members and, after she retired, Malon.

Even so, those connections had their limitations. For all their efforts, Link and Medli were primarily my guards. Link, especially, kept a decent amount of separation between us when it came to his personal life. I had always had a strange sort of non-romantic affection for him, and part of me wished he would open up more. Malon assured me that he wasn't as stone-faced at home, but I would probably never see that side of him. He took his job very seriously.

I shook my head of the thought. Lamenting my own lack of friends wouldn't do any good, and I had work to do.

 _Back to work. After this nap, at least._

…

Saria

…

I knew something was going on with Link. He knew something this morning that he hadn't known last night, and I could only imagine it was due to his Black Ops involvement. He also looked at me strangely when he walked in my room, which confused me. I wasn't used to that level of scrutiny. Like always, I said very little.

Apparently we needed to go to Koholint Island, which was extremely distressing to me. He wouldn't even explain why. Just that we had to go, and we might find some answers there. I could have told him no, but something nagged at me that he was right.

He was always right. His ability to think under pressure and predict future enemy decisions was beyond comprehension. It was definitely beyond the abilities of a regular Hylian.

Because of that, I had to trust him. I made a minute decision to leave Malon and Medli in Sanctuary to explore the area and get a feel for what we were dealing with here on the mainland. Link and I would visit Koholint and discreetly search it for any signs of activity. I didn't know how I would feel when we made it to Mabe Village, but I needed to see it for myself. After the massacre, I had never gone back. There was nothing there for me anymore, even if there hadn't been much before.

No matter what, I had to hold it together in front of Link. I didn't want him to discover who I really was, although the rational side of me realized it didn't matter. Link had become a national hero when he was in the Navy and he had never been targeted by the Eta Ali, but my skepticism remained.

I had been paranoid about the Church of Eta Ali for years, although I never suspected that it may have embedded itself in the SSC. It appeared to me that Link had been one of the secondary targets, which furthered my suspicions that the organization had reason to hunt down the remaining survivors of Koholint Island. Fortunately, there were very few people who knew my true identity, although I had to admit to myself that I had taken somewhat extreme precautions.

Link and I paid a local pilot a sizable sum of money to fly us within ten kilometers of Koholint Island and keep his mouth shut about it. Soon enough, we were lifting off a small runway in Sanctuary and flying out over the water to the southwest. Half an hour later, we leapt out of the plane at 15,000 meters and slipped through the bottom of the stratosphere. I shivered as we dropped through the tropopause, and then set my sights on Koholint Island.

It was surreal to be hurtling through the atmosphere towards my childhood home. It looked just as I remembered it, but I couldn't make out many details of Mabe Village from this height. I stared at the center of the island for several seconds, making sure that I would have ample camera footage to pore over when I got to the ground. I used my visual scanner to create an updated topographic map of the island, which I would compare with old ones. If there were any changes, that could be an indicator of human activity, although not definitive proof.

To avoid detection by any type of radar, Link and I had both equipped our TALOS suits with new TALOS Industries tech that negated the need for a parachute. I was extremely nervous about using it, but Link had already successfully landed six times in training. Stabilizing rockets would fire close to the ground, decelerating us to the point that our new shock absorbers could handle the landing. The impact itself would be somewhere in the realm of 25 g's, so it would still hurt, but we wouldn't have to use parachutes that could be picked up by detection systems.

As we approached the ground several minutes later, I engaged the landing system and prayed to the goddesses. Link dropped below me as I decelerated, waiting until he was only about one hundred meters above the ground to engage his landing system. He hit the ground three seconds before me, his armor absorbing most of the impact and forcing him into a roll to dispel the rest of the energy. I followed suit, landing less-than-gracefully on my back.

 _That hurt._

I groaned as I stood up, grateful for my helmet's ability to block my voice. We had landed where we planned, one kilometer inland from the northern shore and one kilometer north of Mabe Village. Koholint Island was thirty kilometers long from north to south and half as wide, but most of its population had been concentrated on the northern coast. The wildlife further south was increasingly deadly, and an interesting wind current kept the north side of the island much milder year-round. A volcano separated the northern and southern sections. For now, we would scour the north side and hope to find something.

Once we had gotten our bearings and checked our equipment, I found a dark spot behind the tree line to complete my administrative work. Link left to scout the ruins of Mabe Village while I compiled maps and analyzed the terrain. I could already tell from the old maps that the village had been reclaimed by the forest.

Now that I thought about it, it had been reclaimed unnaturally quickly. The attack had happened over five years ago, but it was strange to see nearly full-grown trees covering the village.

 _Maybe the island actually is haunted._

Rumors had circulated for several years after the attack, causing the people of Faron to generally avoid the island. Eventually the government in Lanayru had condemned the area entirely, and all requests to visit it had since been denied. Conspiracy theories had been popular, but the decision had been made out of respect for the dead.

"It's strange to be back here." Link said through our helmet link. "Last time I was here, this area was… Well, it was vibrant. Alive. The people were happy. I can't imagine why it was attacked."

 _Why is he telling me this? He hasn't hardly said anything since we left the mainland._

I didn't respond, although I agreed with him.

"There's something here." Link said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I can feel it." He replied. "Something… sinister. I've still got a ways to go before I reach Mabe Village, but there's something going on."

I linked my visor camera to his so that I could see what was going on. He was slipping through the forest like a ghost, using the land to his advantage. Even after all these years he remembered everything about the area.

"Engaging optical camouflage." He said.

I finished my maps and sent them back to Medli on the mainland, but I was paying attention to Link's helmet camera the entire time. I knew better than to ignore his intuition. Several minutes later, he approached the crumbling outer wall of Mabe Village and peered over.

I quietly gasped.

"Get here." Link said, his voice shaking.

I was already sprinting through the forest, covering the kilometer to the village in just three minutes. When I quietly slid up to the wall, I looked over it for myself. I had seen this exact image through Link's visor camera, but I needed to watch it with my own eyes.

Mabe Village had been turned into a discreet compound. The outer wall was capped by guard towers at all four corners, all of which were occupied by soldiers in camouflaged armor. The trees that had grown up throughout the village formed an artificially thick canopy that blocked its bustling center from any eyes in the sky. From the northern section of the wall, I could see an anti-air emplacement on the western half of the village, but the rest of the occupied area was concealed behind old buildings and trees.

"This is…" Link started, but was at a loss for words.

The rumors that the island was haunted had apparently been planted for a reason. The travel ban may have been emplaced for a reason, as well. Whatever it was, I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"Go around the right side, and I'll go around the left." I said. "Get a good view of everything so we can make a map. We'll meet on the south side and move further through the island to see if there's any activity down there, and then start intensive reconnaissance."

"Okay." Link whispered. He was obviously very distressed by what he was seeing, but I knew it wouldn't affect his ability to move unseen and unheard. I slipped off to the east, circling underneath the guard tower and getting a good view of Mabe Village as I worked my way around it. My TALOS suit created a map as I looked around, analyzing every detail of everything I saw. The guards in the tower were wearing an unidentifiable armor with a camouflage pattern that wasn't registered in any Hylian records. I didn't know if they were hostile, but I certainly wasn't going to take chances. After all, they were guarding a compound on a deserted, haunted island for a reason. It wasn't to meet Hylians.

It took close to half an hour before Link and I met on the south side of the village and make our way through the woods following the southern path to the volcano.

"This path is still heavily used." Link pointed out after a few minutes.

I had noticed that there were plenty of footprints, and that the dirt path hadn't been overrun by the forest. That meant that there was something going on to the south that required a significant amount of foot traffic.

"Bare feet." Link said.

Sure enough, most of the footprints were just that. Feet, rather than boots or shoes.

Several minutes later, the trees opened up to show a small collection of fields. They were still slightly covered by the trees, but not in a way that looked unnatural. A significant amount of work had gone into making this farmland blend into the countryside. A few people were working in the fields closest to us, and I froze when I looked at them.

"Those people…" I started uncertainly.

"They look like the people who used to live here." Link said. "That's Grandma Ulrira, and that's her husband Jim Ulrira in the next field. Papahl is working next to him."

I knew this, but it was hard to believe. I had thought these people were dead for years. They were but memories in my mind, and yet here they were standing in front of me. A single guard watched over them as they worked, but she didn't seem overly interested in what was going on.

"They're prisoners, for sure." Link said. "Why else would there be an armed guard watching them work in the fields?"

I nodded in agreement.

"What do we do now?"

I looked back to the north, and then south at the volcano rising above the island.

"We find a place to camp, compile our maps, send our reports, and come up with a plan for further recon." I said.

Link nodded. We both wanted to jump in and save the people we saw, but that would be a mistake without first analyzing what we were up against. We were only able to see the buildings around the perimeter of the outer wall, which meant that there could be any number of guards wandering around the inside of Mabe Village.

As we moved through the trees towards the volcano, Link pointed out something that I hadn't noticed.

"All those guards were females."

I looked at him curiously.

"I wasn't paying attention to that."

"Yes, I'll show you on the videos later. Their armor was designed for it." He said. "It's not proof that they're Gerudo, but that's definitely evidence in favor of it. Which means that this could have something to do with the Church of Eta Ali."

"That's a little bit of a stretch." I said.

"I know. It's just conjecture at this point." Link admitted. "But it fits the bill."

"How do you know that?" I asked. "We've never seen them before."

"Exactly. That's why I'm suspecting they have something to do with this. They've never been seen before because they operate in hidden environments like this. Think how much work went into planning a perfect hideout like this."

He was right about that, but I didn't have enough evidence to make that connection yet.

"We'll see after we do more recon." I said simply.

Two hours later, we found a good spot to camp for the night, send our reports and videos, and form a plan for the next day. Without alerting Link, I had to slip off into the woods and cry for a few minutes. What I had seen today had allowed old wounds to resurface, and I didn't know any other way to handle it.

I returned to our discreet camp without a word and finished my work for the day. Link offered to keep watch first, so I curled up in a ball and tried to sleep. I wasn't very successful, but eventually I ended up drifting off into a nightmarish vision of my childhood.

Hours of tossing and turning were briefly interrupted when the volcano shot a jet of molten lava several hundred meters into the sky, but once it became clear that there wasn't going to be a true eruption I settled back into my uneasy sleep.

By the time we set out again early in the morning, I was ready for answers.

Malon

…

As Medli and I explored Sanctuary, I was struck with how quiet the city was. While it wasn't a supercity, it should have been busier than this. The roads and businesses were all empty. Many buildings were boarded up.

"What's going on?" I asked Medli.

"I… I don't know." She said. "I grew up in the eastern portion of the Grand Forest, so I never visited the west coast. But it should be more populated than this."

The problem wasn't a lack of people. It was the lack of people moving around. In war, when I had gone into an area where the people stayed inside I had begun to worry. That meant that an attack was imminent.

I saw a police officer driving by and flagged him down. He stopped his vehicle and rolled down the window, looking at me suspiciously. Careful to attempt the northern accent that was distantly similar to my own, I started questioning him.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where is everyone? My friend and I came to visit and there's nothing happening."

He looked at me like I was crazy.

"You haven't heard about the protests?"

I shook my head.

"They've been going on every evening. Sanctuary hasn't been hit too hard by it, but Lanayru is under siege by a bunch of lunatics running around the streets demanding we separate from the Empire. They're getting increasingly violent."

Medli stepped in, her curiosity piqued.

"We weren't having protests in the east when I left. Is this only on the west coast? How long have the protests been going on?"

"As far as I'm aware, yes." The officer said. "They started about six months ago, but didn't become a problem until the past few weeks."

I scowled for a moment, and then nodded.

"Thank you for your time." I said. "Sorry to bother you."

"No problem." The officer replied. "Nice to have someone who isn't throwing rocks at me for once."

As he drove away, I looked up and down the main street with interest.

"How did we not know about these protests until we got here?" Medli wondered aloud. "They started before I joined the SSC, but I didn't hear about it. I know I lived on the east side of the continent, but you'd think that we would have heard something."

I spent a few minutes writing down some notes, since Medli was awful at that particular job. Her true strength lay in gathering information. She was young and adorable, so people trusted her. They had no idea she could kill a typical person in less than two seconds with her bare hands.

I carefully ran my fingers over the handgun concealed under my shirt. It worried me that these protests were getting violent. I'd hate to see what would happen if a bunch of anti-Hyrule protestors found out I was a Castle native.

 _I'd better start carrying extra magazines._

I wasn't allowed to engage in combat, since I was technically a civilian, but I still had a right to defend myself.

I noticed that Sword had sent in her first report, stating that both her and Link had safely landed on Koholint Island. It included several hours' worth of monitoring data, as well as updated topographical maps of the island. After forwarding it to Castle, I read over it. A video of their descent from the stratosphere was included, which I imagined was a lot of fun for both of them. High altitude jumps were one of the things I missed about the SSC.

Several hours of the streets gave us very few answers, so we decided to eat lunch and hang around until the protestors showed up. We found a deserted eastern cuisine restaurant whose owners were immensely appreciative of their only guests. Medli loved the food, so I could only assume it was genuine.

The protestors appeared halfway through our meal, prompting the restaurant staff to lock the doors and close the blinds on the windows.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave out the back once you're done." Our waiter told us, a look of concern on her face. "They got pretty close to us last night, and were smashing windows a block over."

"Oh…" Medli said, peeking through the blinds at the gathering of teenagers on the street. "Well don't worry, I'm a forest ranger."

I glanced over at her. I wasn't in a place to tell her what information to conceal. Technically she wasn't a forest ranger anymore, but I assumed she had some sort of reason for saying that.

"I don't suppose you'd like to defend the restaurant until the morning?"

She chuckled.

"No, but while I'm here you guys don't need to worry about anything." She said. "Where do the protests usually start?"

"From the town center just down the street." The waiter said.

We both nodded, and then she left the table.

"Why'd you tell her?" I asked Medli, dropping my fake accent.

"It's a gamble." She admitted. "But people like the forest rangers here. We're seen as protectors of the planet and its natural resources. She might give us some useful information based on that, if she has any."

Sure enough, when she came back to fill our drinks a few minutes later, she slipped Medli a note. No bill came after that, and it looked as if we were the only ones in the building. Several protesters peered in on their way down the street, but none of them made a move.

"It's saying that there's a separatist leader speaking at an underground venue tonight." Medli said, peering at the note.

"Where?"

"Literally underground. In the old subway."

I scratched my chin. "It could be a trap."

"But we could also learn something useful."

I nodded.

"You have your handgun?" I asked. I wasn't keen on going to a protest with her unarmed, even if she was an expert at non-lethal force.

"No, I brought my submachine gun." Medli replied. I looked at her, confused.

"Where are you hiding it?"

She only grinned.

…

Link

…

We returned to Mabe Village at three in the morning and found the guards to be exceptionally lazy. I could hardly blame them, since they were guarding a deserted island that most people on the planet would never willingly set foot on.

Unfortunately for them, I was angry and thirsty for revenge. I had trained myself years ago to ignore desires to go on revenge hunts, but seeing my childhood neighbors enslaved in a field had awoken long-suppressed urges. Saria had also been decidedly more engaged, and immediately agreed to recon and potentially attack the village. I, of course, knew why. She had just as much skin in this game as I did.

If a miracle didn't happen tonight, I would be killing several people.

We reached the outer wall and slipped inside the southern gate. Moving slowly, we scanned the area for traps or alarms. Four guards worked their way around the village in a lazy pattern. They weren't looking for anything, and therefore didn't see myself or Saria creeping through the shadows. We didn't even need to use optical camouflage.

Most of the buildings in the village had been torn down or were in ruins. Even my old house in the southwest corner had been lost to a fire, which caused me significantly more distress than I had been expecting it to. The center of the village had been ripped apart and altered to make room for the entrance to an underground bunker. There were two large anti-air guns on the northwestern and southeastern sides of the door, but not a rocket system.

Two houses to the north of the bunker right next to the town's old main square caught my eye. They were still in decent condition, which surprised me. They stood side by side and looked to be inhabited. Smoke rose from the chimney of the building on the left.

 _Do the guards live in there?_ I wondered.

"I'm going to check those buildings out." I said to Saria. A green light appeared on my visor, signaling her acknowledgment.

I crept past the back of the bunker and over towards the houses. The windows were covered in grime, but I could still see the glow of the fire through one of them. Unfortunately, I couldn't see any details in the room. After checking that the rest of the windows were in the same condition, I made a minute decision to move around the back. There, I found a back door. It was closed and locked, but that presented very little challenge to me.

"I'm going in." I said.

If Saria had any reservations about my slightly reckless decision, she certainly didn't express them. I slid my TALOS suit's bump key into the lock, jiggling it quietly until the cheap tumblers fell into place. Fortunately the locks in Mabe Village hadn't ever been upgraded to the more commonly used electronic displays.

The hinges on the door squeaked quietly as I entered the house, and then again as I shut it behind myself. I had walked into a living room with a dining area on the right. The kitchen was at the other end of the house by the front door, and a set of stairs ascended from the far left corner. The fire was crackling quietly to my left, and was surrounded by two moth-eaten chairs and a torn up couch. I could hear someone breathing quietly, so I stepped closer to the couch and looked over the back. My breath caught.

She looked significantly older than I remembered her, but I found Tracy sleeping on the thin cushions. Her leg was chained to a steel post in the mantle, preventing her from going anywhere but the kitchen. She was thin and wore ragged clothing.

Tracy had been like an older sister to me when I was growing up. She lived next door, and since I had virtually no family members left she took up looking after me. Her parents died in a boating accident around my thirteenth birthday, and she had become somewhat distant after that. I could barely contain myself at seeing her, but then my rage began to seep out as I saw her many cuts and bruises.

 _She looks like she's a decade older than she actually is._ I realized.

Even more confusing was the fact that her name had been on the official death record that the Faron government had published. Jim and Marge Ulrira, as well as Papahl had all been on that list. Not a single person had survived except for those that had joined the military and were away.

So how was it that I had found four of the former villagers alive already? The thought was wonderful, but my mind wasn't willing to accept it. I had long given up hope.

I left Tracy there for the moment and quietly walked up the stairs. They creaked, but Tracy didn't stir. The upstairs was fairly simple, with three bedrooms attached to a hallway that the stairs fed into. I peeked into the first one quietly, finding it disappointingly empty. The second bedroom, though, held another sleeping occupant.

I almost didn't recognize her, but Martha had a distinctive face that hadn't changed much since I left Koholint. Her brown hair was tangled and knotted, although it had always been like that. She had only been fourteen when I left, which meant she was probably about twenty now. She was bruised, cut, and chained to the bed.

As hard as it was to close the door, I had to. It would be impossible to release the villagers without a thorough understanding of what was going on in the village. Furthermore, we had no way to get them off the island unless Medli could arrange for a different mode of pickup. That would have to wait until morning, at the earliest.

I opened the last door, cringing as it creaked loudly. My attention was immediately consumed by something else, though.

On the other side of the door, a girl was staring at me from the bed. She was very much awake.

"I've been seen. Orange." I said quickly, updating my status. Saria would bunker down and wait for any further updates, wherever she was.

"Please don't."

I stared at the girl, not moving a muscle. She couldn't see much of me, but I could see her. I would never have been able to forget her.

Marin had been my classmate and friend. We were the same age, and had grown up inseparable. The notice of her death had hit me the hardest, and was the one I took the longest to come to grips with. I quickly slipped in the room and closed the door, cursing its hinges for being so loud. When I turned around, Marin had crawled back to the corner of her mattress, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Please don't do this to me."

I turned on my helmet's microphone. It would adjust to the volume of my voice, so I whispered.

"Marin, is that you?"

She recoiled at the sound of her name.

"No, I…"

I kneeled down next to her bed, raising a finger to my helmet to signal her to be quiet. I switched back over the radio briefly.

"I've found Tracy, Martha, and Marin in the house." I said through my radio. "Marin is awake and has seen me. Yellow."

"Be careful." Saria said, speaking for the first time.

I pressed the latch holding my helmet on above my head, removing it slowly so that it didn't make noise as it depressurized. Marin crawled back even further into the corner and pulled her blanket up to her eyes, terrified. She was limited by the chain holding her to the foot of the bed.

My helmet flipped back over my head and flattened against my TALOS suit, exposing my face in the darkness.

"Marin, it's okay." I said. "Do you remember me? You may not recognize me anymore. I'm not going to hurt you."

She stared at me for several seconds, trying to discern my features in the dark. Finally, she tentatively reached out from under her blanket and touched my face in disbelief.

"Link?"

"Yes, it's me." I said.

She kept touching my face, like she expected me to disappear any second.

"I…" She started, but couldn't seem to find the right words.

"Do you want me to get you out of here?" I asked finally, knowing I needed to get moving.

Marin nodded, her blonde curls falling over her shoulders. She dropped the blanket, and I averted my eyes respectfully as I realized she hadn't been given rag clothing like the other villagers.

"Every day they come." She whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "They… They do horrible things to me. They… the men…"

She shuddered, and I pulled her blanket up over her shoulders to preserve what little bit of warmth she had been afforded. I didn't need to hear any more.

"Who are they?" I asked. I had been planning on coming back the next night with a better strategy, but if she was a sex slave for the soldiers here I couldn't leave her.

She shivered and was unable to answer me, so I reached down and grabbed the cuff around her ankle. Marin jumped, but exhaled heavily and let me crack it open.

"Who else is here?" I asked. "Where are the rest of the villagers?"

"It's Tracy and Martha in here." Marin said, still staring at me in disbelief. "The Ulriras are in the other house with Papahl and my dad."

"Tarin is…" I started, but shook my head. With a quick decision, I pressed my finger to my earpiece and contacted Saria.

"I'm getting these girls out of here. Jim, Martha, Papahl, and Tarin are in the other house."

Saria finally voiced an objection.

"Link, as much as I want to get them out, it'll blow our cover. Even if we get them out without alerting the guards, they'll know they got help."

I put my helmet back over my head so that Marin couldn't hear me.

"They're using Marin as a sex slave." I said. "They could be using Tracy and Martha, too."

There was a brief pause, and then Saria responded with more venom and emotion than I'd ever heard in her before.

"Get them out of there."

…

It took just a few minutes to wake the others. Saria entered the other building and got the four villagers there, which took several minutes. The Ulriras were both in their seventies, and couldn't move quite as quickly as everyone else. When everyone was ready, I dragged Marin, Tracy, and Martha out the back door and slipped behind the nearest building. Saria followed, followed by Papahl, Tarin, and the Ulriras. I was wearing my helmet so that the others wouldn't recognize me, and had made Marin promise to keep my identity quiet until we were safe.

If any of the villagers had doubts about what was going on, they didn't say anything. The looks of desperation in their eyes were beyond my own comprehension. They were in shock, but we had given them hope for the first time in many years. Once Marge Ulrira had caught up to the group, I peeked around the northern side of the house and looked around.

The guards hadn't caught on, and it looked like they had gotten even more lax in their patrols. Two of them were chatting underneath the unmanned northeast guard tower, and another had taken off her helmet and was smoking a cigarette nearby. I zoomed in on her face with my visor.

"I was right about them being Gerudo." I said to Saria through the radio. She nodded, and I looked back towards the bunker door to ensure there wasn't any renewed activity.

As I watched, the door opened and six new guards walked out. I checked my watch and, seeing that it was already 5:00, gestured for the escapees to lay low for a few minutes. All the night guards stood up and casually walked towards the center of the village, stopping to chat with the morning guards for a few minutes.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Saria led the group around the outside of the run-down houses, eventually reaching the southern gate and exiting the village. I paused and looked back at the bunker door, where the guards were still talking to each other. Their voices carried across the wind, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.

Saria looked back at me as she left the village, already knowing what I was thinking.

"That door is still open." I said through the radio.

"It only takes one of us to take these people to safety." She replied simply.

I nodded and turned back towards the village, much to the surprise of Marin and the other villagers. Saria ushered them down the southern path towards the center of the island, and soon they passed behind the trees.

I snuck around the line of buildings until I had a good view of the door. Four of the night guards had already gone inside, but the two that stood by the door were still talking to the others.

 _They're too complacent._

I had always been taught that complacency in guard duties was the key to certain death. It invited enemies to take advantage of you. When things got boring was the time I paid the most attention to what was going on around me, because I knew that that was when an enemy would strike.

I was watching a perfect example of why that was an important lesson. The guards were bored, and likely hadn't ever seen action at this posting.

I activated my optical camouflage and crept into the open, staying on the broken concrete path to conceal the sound of my footsteps. Just as the night guards said their goodbyes and stepped inside the bunker, I ghosted past them and hid inside the door. It hissed shut, trapping me inside.

The entrance to the bunker was fairly stereotypical. A long cement hallway led further into the ground, lit only by old-school fluorescent lights. Another door at the bottom of the staircase led to the next part of the bunker. The last two night guards walked through it, and I slipped in behind them before the door closed.

The next area was a junction, and split into three different areas. I recognized the bunker design now, realizing that it was similar to many King's Collective command bunkers I had seen. The area on the left would lead to living quarters. The right side would contain an armory and most of the communications equipment. Lastly, the middle corridor would lead down several more meters below ground to serve as a command center and an armored shelter. This was an extremely expensive, well-made bunker for such a secluded location, and it made me suspicious. After double-checking that my helmet camera was running, I approached the door on the left and tested it.

It was unlocked, allowing me to peek through the crack and into the living quarters. Twenty bunks occupied the room immediately in front of the door, and I could see several Gerudo women lying down sleeping, as well as two men. The two night guards were quietly taking off their armor and slipping into their beds, and didn't notice the crack in the door.

There was a smaller room to the left that was likely an officer's quarters, which meant I was dealing with up to twenty-five Gerudo with unknown intentions. For all I knew, there could be more. Beds didn't necessarily have to be in the living quarters.

For the moment, I backed away from the door and crept over to the right side. This door was locked, but it was easy enough to hack into the electronic system and open it. As I had expected, the armory stood before me, secured by a heavy steel door. A room to the right held radios and other communications equipment, but was currently empty.

I slipped into the communications room to analyze it, and was intrigued to find that the bunker's security cameras were routed to this room.

 _Goddesses, this is a sloppy operation they've got going on here._ I thought to myself, looking at the empty security desk. The camera feed wasn't even secured, and I could see the activities of the entire bunker. The left screen flashed between the barracks and the officer's quarters, and the right side showed a view of the front door of the bunker and the hallway behind it.

The center screen scrolled through several cameras in Mabe Village that I hadn't noticed.

 _Good thing this desk isn't manned._ The cameras outside were equipped with thermal imaging, which meant we would have raised the alarm immediately. Our TALOS suits could only hide our body heat for a limited time, and the enslaved villagers would have shown up red-hot on the screen.

The screen finished scrolling through the village cameras and switched to a new area, which I could only assume was the bottom of the bunker. Two Gerudo women were in the command center staring at a map of Faron on a screen. Several of the major urban areas along the west coast of the main continent were colored red, as well as Ordon City on the east coast. A male sat on the edge of the screen, only halfway in the camera's field of view.

The two Gerudo were pointing at several of the red areas and in a heated debate, but I didn't want to risk turning on the sound.

The rest of the room was fairly unassuming. Bugging the quantum entanglement radios and linking them to my TALOS suit took only a few minutes, and then I left the room. I needed to see what was going on downstairs and then decide what to do with this bunker.

A Gerudo woman passed me on the way down the stairs, and she was closely followed by another man who wore nothing to indicate his allegiance. Two more men followed, and I continued to move after they entered the barracks.

The staircase wound down and around, ending at the entrance to the control room directly beneath the previous floor. The door was propped open, and I could see the two Gerudo women were now arguing.

"-regret it if you start it tonight." The one on the left said. "There's not enough support for it yet."

"It'll be fine. We've been working on this for years." The other Gerudo replied.

"And it's still not ready. Why would you gamble years of effort instead of waiting another week and see if our people can get the city-dwellers a little more riled up?"

"Because the movement will begin to lose steam if nothing happens. We'll start it slow."

"How slow?"

"Lanayru tonight, since that's where we've gotten the best reception. Ordon tomorrow."

"And then what?"

"Give it a few days and then add Eldin and Kakariko to the mix."

The Gerudo on the left sighed.

"I just think you're rushing it."

"At some point we're going to have to call this, and the time won't be obvious. This entire plan is based on prudent risk-taking."

"I suppose you're right. Fine, I'll bow to your experience in this."

"None of us have experience in this. Aveil just happened to put me in charge."

I had been paying attention before Aveil's name was mentioned, but now I was extremely alert.

"What say you, Fallen King?"

"I say it's time, for what it's worth."

The male voice was eerily familiar.

"Very well. Tonda, I hope you're right about this."

The Gerudo Tonda, who I could only assume was the ranking officer in the bunker, approached a nearby computer screen and typed in a few short lines.

"The order has been issued for Lanayru." She said after a few moments. "Now let's go find something to eat while we wait for nightfall."

The two Gerudo walked out of the command center, talking casually and suspecting nothing as they passed within a meter of me. There was a creak from the room as the "Fallen King" stood up. I looked over, quietly confirming my suspicions.

Arnav Nohansen was pacing the control center muttering to himself. He looked ragged and tired, as if he hadn't slept in months. He was unarmed.

 _I could kill him right now._ I thought to myself. There was still a kill order out on him, and I would be legally justified in assassinating him. On the other hand I felt as if I should attempt to capture him. Killing a man in cold blood had always bothered me.

Of course, killing Hylians in cold blood had never bothered Arnav. With a minute decision, I drew the Master Sword from its sheath and stepped into the control room. Arnav stopped, as if he felt my presence, but shook his head and continued pacing. I slowly crept around the circular table in the center of the room until I ended up behind him.

 _This seems like such an anti-climactic end for him._ I mused as I set up to stab him through the chest.

Arnav paced away and stopped, turning around to face me.

"So you've come."

I froze, checking my optical camouflage status as I did so. The battery was still above 80%, so I knew I was hidden.

"There's no sense in striking me down from behind." Arnav continued. "I felt your presence from the moment you walked down those stairs."

I deactivated my camouflage, since he was looking right at me and obviously knew I was there.

"How?" I asked, still keeping my distance. I hadn't forgotten that he was a martial arts master.

Arnav laughed, devolving into a coughing fit for several seconds. Once he recovered, he stood up straighter and answered me.

"As much as your queen denies my claim to the throne, I'm still a descendent of the royal family." He said. "I possess some measure of magic. No matter how you conceal your presence, I can feel the power of the Triforce pulsing within you. Your bloodline is intertwined with mine, whether you know it or not."

"You're certainly confident of my identity." I pointed out.

"To think that anyone but Queen Zelda's sworn protector would be the one to strike me down is bordering on madness."

"And you're not a madman?"

Arnav sighed and turned around, staring at the map of Faron on the screen.

"I just wanted to make the world a better place." He said, his voice quiet. "I still do. It's been over a year since my troops were routed in the desert, and I've had plenty of time to think about what I did wrong."

"So you admit you're a terrorist now."

Arnav chuckled to himself.

"Terrorist? No. Although I suppose it seemed I was." He said. "What everyone failed to realize, including me, was that I wasn't the one pulling the strings. The war was being fought from several fronts, but Zelda and her generals only identified one."

I stared at him intently, unsure if I should take him seriously or strike him down now.

"You see, Sergeant White, the King's Collective started as a conventional force fighting for a better Hylian Empire. You know this. It was assumed that as the war went on, I became more desperate and ordered civilian bombings, but I never would have done that."

"So you're telling me over five thousand civilian bombings tied to the Collective during the war were the acts of lone wolves?" I scoffed.

He turned and stared at me, his face gaunt.

"They were staged."

I rolled my eyes, although he couldn't see them through my helmet.

"You don't have to believe me, but they were orchestrated by another group and pinned on the Collective in an attempt to sow discord among the people." Arnav said, his voice taking on a pleading tone. "The idea was to break the Empire apart and strike out at Castle when it was abandoned by Cutov and Faron."

"What group?" I demanded.

"The Church of Eta Ali."

I stared at him for a few silent moments.

"You know of them." Arnav said, taking a step towards me. I pointed the Master Sword at him, and he took the hint.

"Yes, I know of them."

 _That's both an understatement and an overstatement._ I thought. I knew of them, which was more than most people, but I knew almost nothing about them besides the fact that they had murdered everyone on Koholint Island and were somehow tied to the Gerudo. It wasn't much to go on.

"How do you know this?" I asked, my voice taking on a menacing edge.

"The Gerudo in this bunker are part of an Eta Ali task force assigned to orchestrate the overturn of Faron's ties to the Empire." Arnav said. "Like I said, they want to weaken Castle."

I shivered.

"What's their end goal?" I asked.

Arnav stared at me.

"Their god has called out for the death of Queen Zelda and… you."

Several silent seconds passed before I was able to fully process that revelation.

"Why?" I asked finally.

"Surely you know the legends. That the Royal Family and the Spirit of the Hero are tied together for all eternity. You also know that you're the last member of your bloodline, and Zelda is the last direct descendent of the Royal Family. The entire fabric of Hyrule is tied to your continued existence, as well as Zelda's."

I didn't want to believe him. I had no reason to. Every logical part of my brain was telling me he was lying to save his own skin. And yet, the nagging voice in the back of my mind told me he was telling the truth. I didn't know if it was a gut feeling or the magic that had replaced Demise's curse over a year ago, but I knew better than to ignore it. I lowered the Master Sword and stared at Arnav.

"We'll be talking extensively about this, but I have just one more question for now." I said. "Why are my childhood friends being kept as prisoners and sex slaves in the ruins of the village?"

Arnav stared at me, a look of surprising concern plastered on his face.

"I haven't been allowed to leave the bunker in over a year. I've been no more than a respected prisoner." He said. "My… My men have been running guard shifts outside every couple days."

"If one of the women I rescued recognizes you, I swear before the goddesses themselves that I'll strike you down. I'll start at your feet and-"

"They won't recognize me. I didn't even know the Gerudo were allowing slaves to be kept above ground."

I glared at him for a few seconds, and then sheathed the Master Sword and turned towards the door.

"You're coming with me. Your future is uncertain, as of this moment, but I want to know everything about the Eta Ali. I have no grudges against you, but them…"

I said nothing more, drawing my handgun from its holster and moving to the open door. After I had screwed a suppressor onto the end of the barrel, I ascended the stairs and looked out into the main area of the bunker. It was unoccupied.

I plucked two grenades off the hooks on my left leg and tossed one to Arnav. He looked at me, surprised.

"We're going to kill them." I said. "Your men included."

He almost argued, but then sighed and shook his head.

"They'll be in the barracks right now. At least don't make me do it."

"You'll throw that in the communications room." I said. "Don't bother trying to kill me with it. My armor will turn off the electronic fuse."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Arnav said. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Okay, let's go."

…

 **Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but you guys know how it goes. Hopefully I'll have the next one out soon.**

 **Please review!**


	18. Part 2 Chapter 3

**Definitely took me a while to write this chapter, but it ended up longer than normal and I was going through some bullshit. It's all good. Life happens and we roll with the punches, right?**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

Part 2 Chapter 3

Malon

…

I woke with a start to the sound of breaking glass down the hall, followed by shouts. Someone banged on my door, nearly knocking it off the hinges.

I had just raised my rifle when the door gave out, admitting a man who looked to be in his early twenties. He held a crow bar in one hand and a broken glass bottle in the other.

"Surprise, motherfucker." I said calmly, staring into his eyes.

That was enough to send him screaming back down the hallway, where he dropped his weapons and sent the other rioters into full flight. Medli didn't take long to get to my room afterwards.

"Do you think it started already?" She asked, looking after the fleeing men as they leapt out the broken window.

"Why else would they be this far away from the city?" I asked, quickly beginning to pack my things. My tablet rang, signaling that a report had come in.

"It's Sword." I said curiously. "I wonder what happened overnight that she bothered to send me a report. Surely they haven't found anything out yet."

Medli opened the tablet and looked at it while I packed up my equipment. It was time to move to our backup spot in the rural areas east of Sanctuary.

"Malon… You'd better look at this."

I took the tablet and read the message. It was quick and to the point.

 _Mabe Village occupied. Some villagers alive. False King found and captured alive. Eta Ali confirmed. Thirty Eta Ali/King's Collective KIA. Need evac for eleven on northern end of volcano ASAP._

I had to read the report three times before I believed it. Arnav Nohansen's codename was False King, which meant that they had found and captured him. Furthermore, the Church of Eta Ali had somehow slipped up and allowed themselves to be exposed, which was the opportunity Link had been waiting for.

As I read the message for a fourth time, a call came in through my earpiece. It was Rusl.

"Yes?" I asked, connecting to it.

"Sorry to drop this on you and Medli all of a sudden, but Zelda has just arrived in orbit around Faron. We need Medli-"

"Then why didn't you call her?" I demanded, "And why the hell are we just now finding out about this? Do you realize how much civil unrest there is on the planet right now?"

"We read your reports, but we were already on the way when we got them. There was no sense in turning around."

"There's plenty of sense in turning around when the entire capital is in an uproar. Medli and I barely got out of it last night, and we got woken up this morning by riots in Sanctuary."

"Look, there's only so much I can do." Rusl said, exasperated. "We need you two to meet us at the airport."

"I'm otherwise occupied." I said. "We just got a message from Sword asking for evacuation."

"Don't you think the queen's life takes priority? Link and Sword are quite capable of taking care of themselves."

I sighed.

"Rusl, I'm going to relay your message to Medli. I'm no longer in the SSC, so I'm not bound to its mission. I'm going to find some form of aircraft and fly my husband out of danger."

I didn't say it, but I would let Zelda die before I left Link to the mercy of whatever was on Koholint Island right now. Without him, I didn't have much to live for.

There was a pause, and then Rusl responded.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Just ask Medli to come meet us at the Sanctuary airport and go do your thing."

I cut the line and turned to Medli, relaying the message as I continued to stow the last of my equipment in a collection of discreet luggage transporters. Saria had cleaned out her room before we left, so we didn't need to worry about her things.

"I can handle the rest." Medli said. "Link probably needs your help more right now, anyways. I'll get the rest of the stuff out of here and then get to the airport."

I nodded and stepped out into the hall.

…

Link

10 minutes beforehand

…

As I stepped out of the bunker's blood-soaked halls, I quickly dispatched the two door guards with my handgun, and then another that I could see down the road. Arnav broke the neck of another Gerudo who tried to sneak around the corner. Her armor crunched, buckling with very little effort.

I shuddered.

The three remaining guards were spread out throughout the village, which gave me an excellent opportunity to pick them off individually with my rifle. The faint morning twilight peeking over the horizon wasn't enough for them to spot me without night vision, which my TALOS suit did an excellent job of interfering with.

After I had killed two of the remaining three, I took a moment to think.

"We need to capture this last one." I said to Arnav, who had bunkered down behind a short wall nearby.

"She'll never talk." He replied simply.

 _Where is she?_ I wondered, ignoring him.

I stared around the village from my perch on top of the bunker, catching a flash on my thermals. Four bullets pounded my armor, and another tore through the lens on my scope.

"Shit!" I yelled, rolling to the side as my visor cracked and spider-webbed around the projectile now lodged in front of my right eye. I hadn't seen the Gerudo, which meant that she had somehow evaded being seen, heard, or picked up on thermals.

Arnav grunted when I flopped down next to him. My shoulders and chest were throbbing where they had been hit, even though the armor had absorbed the majority of each impact.

"Go left." I said. "We're going to flank her."

He stared at my pistol.

"Fine." I said, handing it to him. "Don't kill her. She's invisible."

"Oh, that's great. Sending me out to shoot an enemy I can't see with only a handgun. And I'm not allowed to kill her, to top things off."

"Better than nothing." I pointed out.

He said nothing as he flanked the left side of the Gerudo's last known position. Forcing the pain of being shot aside, I detached the ruined scope from my rifle and smashed the entire thing against the side of the bunker. It would only impede my ability to shoot, and I couldn't let functional military technology fall into the hands of any potential enemies.

As I swept around the back of the bunker and approached the south side of the village, a slight haze caught my eyes. I tried to track it, but I couldn't seem to focus on its movements. With a yell, Arnav jumped from behind cover and grabbed the slightly blurry area.

"I've got her!" He yelled, smashing the butt of my pistol into the invisible Gerudo. I heard a muffled yell, and then several shots were fired in my direction. I ducked behind a house quickly, and then popped out again with my rifle raised.

I was shooting without a scope, relying only on my iron sights, and I couldn't get my eyes to focus on the Gerudo that Arnav had wrapped up in her arms. I saw her rifle appear as it dropped to the ground and clattered across the cobblestone path, and then Arnav yanked her to the side.

"Now!"

I saw a footprint appear in the dirt as the Gerudo stomped down to resist Arnav, and my finger squeezed the trigger automatically. Her leg was blown nearly in half by the impact, and her optical camouflage shorted out a moment later as she dropped to the ground.

I walked up to her warily while Arnav kept my handgun pointed at her head.

"Is she dead?" I asked.

"I don't know." He replied. "She's out like a light, though."

To my amazement, her suit of armor was oozing a black liquid into her ruined right leg to stop the bleeding. The calf had been torn cleanly in two, and it was spraying blood at an alarming rate. As the black liquid covered the entire wound, it solidified with a quiet sizzle.

I picked up her rifle and attached it to the magnet on my back. Arnav handed my pistol back and picked up the deposited rifle. Once he had secured it, he threw the unconscious Gerudo on his back."

"We need to go. She probably set off the alarm."

I nodded and turned to the southern gate.

"Sword." I said into my radio.

"I heard the gunshots." She replied immediately.

"I'm fine." I said. "We need to get off this island five minutes ago."

"I'll notify Malon." She said. "I'm sending you my coordinates. Is Arnav cooperating?"

I looked over at him, wondering if I should confiscate the weapons he had taken from the Gerudo soldier.

"So far, yes." I said. "He helped me capture one of the guards and put himself in serious risk in the process. I don't trust him, but he seems motivated by self-preservation. I doubt he's a threat right at this moment."

"Okay." Sword said.

I checked her coordinates, scowling as my visor cracked again and blocked my helmet display.

"I've been shot in the face and my screen isn't working." I said. "Just give me a distance and direction."

"About four kilometers in the direction you're facing right now." Sword replied.

"Okay. Keep your eyes peeled for reinforcements."

I glanced over at Arnav again to make sure he was behaving. Seeing that he was, I set off at a run through the south gate of Mabe Village and towards the volcano. As I ran, I knew that this would be the last time I ever saw my childhood home.

I never looked back.

…

When Arnav and I reached the small camp, I watched the villagers carefully. They registered his presence with curiosity, but didn't seem to recognize him.

"Marin." I said, looking over at where she was sitting on the ground. She had already been staring at me, although it seemed more like she was looking through me.

"Yes?" She asked quietly.

"Do you know this man?"

She shook her head, and I sighed. For some strange reason, I was glad that Arnav had told me the truth. If she had recognized him, I actually would have killed him on the spot.

"I told you." Arnav said from behind me, dropping the captured Gerudo on the ground.

"I have a few questions."

I turned to see Jim Ulrira struggling to his feet. He was old, but his body was wiry and strong from years of toiling in the fields. It looked as if the Gerudo had been working him hard. I took off my helmet, flattening it and tucking it into its storage compartment on the back of my suit.

"Are they questions that can wait until you get off this island?" I asked.

The villagers all turned and stared at me, going silent as they saw my face. It occurred to me that Marin was probably still too shocked to have thought to tell them who I was, and Saria certainly wouldn't have.

"Link…?" Jim whispered. "How-"

"Not now." I said, waving off his questions. "Please, just wait until we escape. Right now we need to worry about reinforcements coming in. I've got a significant weakness in my armor right now, so I'd prefer to not have to fight these… zealots."

"Then what should we do?" Marin asked, her voice weak.

"How long until we get a ride out of here?" I asked Saria.

"Malon is finding a ride right now." She replied. "There's trouble on the mainland. I don't know when she'll be here."

"Then we have all the more reason to get away from the village and hide."

"But where?" Marge Ulrira asked.

I looked to the south, where the volcano rose above the island. Trees grew up to the top, where they ended at the lip of a wide crater. The slopes up the side provided decent cover from aerial observation, and we would likely be able to find a small cave to hide from thermals. If we couldn't find a good landing spot for Malon, we could climb to the top and have her touch down at the edge of the crater, however perilous that could be.

"We have to climb." I said. There was a collective groan from the villagers. Traci spoke up first.

"Link, I don't know if we can-"

"Don't give me that." I said, turning to her. "You've been imprisoned here for five years, left for dead by everyone else on the planet, and still managed to survive. The only thing between you and freedom is a volcano, and we most likely won't have to climb the whole thing. We just need to find a good hiding place."

The group stared at me, very obviously disgruntled.

"Look." I said, frustrated. "I won't force you. If any of you want to sit here and wait for the Eta Ali reinforcements-"

"No, we're going with you." Marin said. She stood up and looked at the other villagers. "Are you guys insane? We've prayed for this opportunity for years. Did you think it would be easy?"

I was glad she decided to help. Marin had always been a natural leader, and the villagers seemed to listen to her more readily. After all, they hadn't seen me in six years and were probably still in extreme shock. I was just an afterthought.

After a few more minutes of deliberating, they all stood up and nodded to each other.

"Just a little more." Marin said to them. "We're almost there. Just a short walk to the middle of the island."

As we walked, she continued to feed words of encouragement to the group. The base of the volcano was nearly eight kilometers away, and I knew the trip would only get harder, but I also felt as if the group could make it.

I felt the first rumble when we were halfway to our destination.

"What the hell was that?" Arnav asked, stopping in his tracks.

"Keep moving." I said, generally unconcerned. The island had occasionally shaken when I was growing up here, although it wasn't a frequent occurrence. We had all figured it was the volcano.

The second rumble happened a few minutes later, piquing my curiosity. It was stronger than the first.

"Arnav, what were the Gerudo doing on this island?" I asked when it abated.

"Mainly preparing to overthrow the government in Lanayru." He replied.

"Was there any research going on? Anything that could have messed with the tectonics of the island?"

"I… can't imagine how they'd have done that. Short of using your damn MAC cannons, that is."

I knew there was a way to disrupt the balance of the mantle, but as far as I knew only Black Ops had the research and technology to be able to do it. If the Eta Ali had reached that level of destructive ability, Hyrule was in a lot of trouble.

The third rumble was the last one before we reached the base of the volcano, but it was vastly stronger than the other two.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." I muttered discreetly to Saria. She nodded in agreement, but said nothing more. By the time we reached the base of the volcano, I had to let the tired villagers sit and rest. After giving them all the food I had packed, I took a few sips of water and stared up at the sky for a few minutes. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up.

"What is it?" Arnav asked as he dropped the still-unconscious Gerudo on the ground.

I didn't answer, choosing instead to scan the horizon. Something didn't feel right.

"Link." Saria said, motioning me over. She handed me a radio headset, so I put it up to my ear.

"Link?"

It was Malon.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"I'm a few hours away at most." She replied. "I just now managed to…acquire an aircraft. There's massive civil unrest going on in Lanayru and a few of the other major cities right now. Zelda just landed at a private airport, but she hasn't left the secured area yet. I already kind of know what's going on there, but I just wanted to see where you are and where I should pick you up."

"We're at the base of the volcano right now." I said. "I'll send you an exact location when you're closer, but we're going to start climbing and try to hide somewhere good. I don't know if the Gerudo are going to send reinforcements, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, please do." Malon said.

"Also, we felt some rumbling under the island. I don't know what it is, but if you can find anything out from your end that would be great."

"Rumbling?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah, like an earthquake but not as strong." I replied.

"Okay… I hope that's not something the Eta Ali conjured up."

"I don't think so, but it definitely crossed my mind." I said.

"Stay frosty, anyways. I'll be pissed if you get shot."

I looked down at the scrapes on my armor, and then chuckled to myself.

"You're going to be a little upset, then." I said.

"You did _not._ "

"Get here fast." I said. "Really, we need you."

Malon sighed.

"Every time I let you run off on your own, you get into trouble."

"Let's not forget all the times we got into trouble together, though." I pointed out.

"Yeah, whatever. Be careful."

I cut the connection and handed the radio back to Saria. Before I could head back to the group of villagers, she grabbed my arm.

"How did you know?"

I looked at her over my shoulder, confused.

"Know what?"

"You know exactly what the hell I'm talking about. How do you know who I am?"

I was taken aback by her sudden outburst. I had never once heard emotion creep into her voice, but it was blatantly obvious now. She was still quiet enough that the villagers hadn't noticed our interaction yet.

"You've never shown me your face. How could I know who you are?" I asked, trying to remain cryptic.

"Don't bullshit me, Link. When you radioed in that you found… _them,_ " She said, discreetly gesturing towards the villagers, "You referred to Marin by name immediately. You knew I would know her, didn't you?"

I stared at her for a few moments, debating whether or not to feign ignorance. I knew I had made a big enough mistake to back myself into a corner, so I needed to be honest with her.

"Why do you hide?" I asked finally.

She didn't respond immediately, instead turning around and looking at the ground.

"So you know." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Have I ever struck you as someone who doesn't know things?" I asked.

She sighed loud enough for me to hear it through her helmet's microphone.

"Why don't you tell them who you are?" I suggested. "They'll be incredibly happy to see you."

"I…" She started, but shook her head. "No, I'm not blowing my cover right after we found the Eta Ali. I've spent years hiding from them in anticipation for this moment."

"And I've spent years training and making a name for myself. Sometimes in spectacular and well-publicized fashion." I said. "If they were hunting us, they would have found me years ago. And you think they wouldn't have found Richard long before that?"

"They _did_ find Richard. Look what happened to him."

I didn't have a reply to that, although I had my own theories backed by Impa's knowledge of history. If she was right, the Eta Ali had gotten lucky when Demise's curse had been separated from me. It had likely moved to occupy the most malicious being at the time, which was the AI Spud. Because computers weren't capable of containing magical energy, the curse had moved to the closest mortal being, which was Richard.

"Be that as it may, we're both in a prime position to strike back." I said. "Let's make them tremble at the thought of us paying them a visit."

She shook her head and walked a few paces away, obviously done with the conversation. Hopefully she didn't feel the urge to slit my throat while I was sleeping. I probably couldn't stop her if she came at me with her katana from this distance.

We began climbing the volcano slowly, sticking to the shadows of the ridges and keeping under the canopy of the trees. The air was hot and humid, and I was sweating profusely from my newly exposed face. It was strange walking around with my face exposed, but I enjoyed it. I had nearly forgotten what it felt like to breathe the air of different places and feel the wind on my face.

I caught Marin staring at me several times, and I knew that she was still in shock that I was here. It had been over eight hours since they were rescued, but that was hardly enough time to adjust to such a sudden event. She likely wasn't entirely convinced I was who I claimed to be. I looked very different than she remembered, after all.

Several hours later, we found a small alcove three-quarters of the way up the volcano and holed up in it. It would be another hour until Malon arrived, but I was beginning to think that the Eta Ali hadn't discovered their losses yet. The captured Gerudo was still unconscious, making me think that her armor was keeping her under to prevent her from bleeding out faster. The seal on her leg looked tight, but it had its limits. There was very little flesh holding the limb together.

Once everyone had settled, Saria confiscated the weapons Arnav had picked up and forced him to sit in the back of the alcove facing away from us. I didn't blame her, although part of me knew that Arnav was cutting his losses and could be trusted for the moment. He could hardly escape the island if he ran off now, and he knew that other Hylians would come looking if he somehow managed to get the jump on us.

"So now what?" Marin asked us, looking over at her exhausted companions.

"Now we climb." I said, looking up at the top of the volcano.

A rumble deep within the earth further unsettled me.

 _Malon, get here quick._

…

Zelda

…

The door to Linebeck's office opened, and he rushed inside. After throwing his coat on the rack in the corner, he hurried over to his desk and sat down, prepared to log onto his computer. When he saw me sitting in the corner, he froze.

"Hello, Governor Linebeck." I said, my voice steady. I lived for these moments.

"My goddesses." He said, shocked. "Your majesty, I… I had no idea you were coming. When did you arrive? Why didn't you let me know?"

I stared at him for a few moments, feeling the tension in the room rise.

"Let's assume for just a moment that I'm not an incompetent idiot." I replied finally. "You know, of course, that I've run this empire for a decent amount of time and managed to keep it together through a galactic war."

"Of… Of course, your majesty. I didn't mean to imply-"

"Why, then, would you think that I wouldn't notice something was going on?"

He paused awkwardly.

"Your majesty, if you're talking about the protests-"

I stood up and walked towards his desk.

"You can hardly call these protests, Governor. As of last night, there's a small-scale civil war raging on Faron. Furthermore, one of my agents has discovered Arnav Nohansen and proof of Eta Ali involvement on Koholint Island, which was condemned several years ago by your very order. Would you care to explain this?"

He stared at me, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Don't bother." I said. "I'd also like to know the origin of several sizable sums of money that were deposited in several of your off-planet bank accounts. One of those sums was deposited yesterday, right before a large number of your citizens plunged your major cities into chaos. Leading those separatists were agents hired by the Eta Ali, which was confirmed by another of my agents after capturing one."

"That money is from my family's business." Linebeck said, standing up from his chair. "Your majesty, if you're suggesting that I'm receiving money from the some extremist cult, that's absolutely-"

"Believable, really." I said, interrupting. "Sit down."

He scowled, but did as he was told.

"As you know, you answer to me." I continued. "With that said, Imperial law permits me to do nearly whatever I want to ensure that you are properly governing your territory. Tracing those payments back was surprisingly difficult, but you know that I have some of the best resources available." 

"Your majesty, I assure you-"

"Does your business operate off of obscure planets outside of Hylian control?" I asked.

"Absolutely not. Wherever you're tracing this money to, there must be a mis-"

"Oh I doubt that very highly. The transaction was routed from several dozen different accounts and pinged through about eight thousand locations throughout the galaxy with encryptions my IT guys had never seen before. Somehow, though, they traced it all back to a single planet nearly a hundred light years outside the reaches of the outer colonies."

I didn't even let him open his mouth to explain this time.

"Understandably, this raises numerous questions about your motivations and loyalties. Did you really think that we wouldn't notice over five hundred million rupees dropping into your bank account? And did you really think I would be satisfied with your answer about the protests? Just because I live on a different planet doesn't mean I'm blind to everything going on around me."

"Your majesty, please. I'm sure there must have been a misunderstanding." Linebeck said. "As you know, mistakes can happen when tracing transactions back to their source. I receive a pension from my former business as part of the contract from when I sold it to my son."

"I find it hard to believe that Linebeck Industries has enough profit on-hand to give you five hundred million rupees in the span of a year. Because they build our Navy's destroyers, I'm intimately aware of the massive reduction in contracts that has occurred during that time frame."

He blathered on for a few minutes, desperately attempting to convince me that the money had come from reputable sources, but his fate had been determined before he walked in the door. The evidence was too damning. He had so many various off-world accounts that it had been nearly impossible to find, but a program developed by Richard, of all people, had been able to trace all of his money and where it had come from. The unknown world outside of Hylian control was puzzling, but it was something that could be addressed later.

I had my theories, of course, but Governor Linebeck didn't need to hear them. I slammed my hand on his desk to shut him up.

"Governor Linebeck, by my authority as Queen of the Hylian Empire, I strip you of your position as Governor of Faron. You are hereby placed under arrest for the crimes of high treason, abuse of governmental authority, and multiple counts of accepting a bribe. You may present your evidence to the contrary in a court of your former constituents, and see how they feel about your actions."

He stared at me in shock, and then looked down at his desk.

"This is insane, Zelda."

As Rusl stepped forward to detain him, he stood up and drew a handgun from a hidden drawer in his desk.

"I hate to do this." He said, pointing it at me and looking over at Rusl. "If you so much as blink in a way I don't like, I'll kill her. You got that? I'm not going to prison for this. I was too close."

"You'll only be in prison briefly before you're executed." Rusl growled. "Do you truly understand what you're doing right now?"

"I'm fully aware, and I hate to be put in this situation. But I was offered a deal too good to refuse, and I'm not going to have you ruining my retirement plans." He replied, his voice shaking. His finger was already on the trigger.

I could have thrown up a magical barrier to protect myself, but I didn't. There was no reason to. Rusl had found three loaded firearms in the room and personally emptied them all before Linebeck arrived.

He jumped when the striker dropped, as if he had been anticipating the recoil. Instead, all he did was awkwardly pull the handgun to the side and groan softly as he realized what had happened.

"Maybe if you practiced more, you would have known the difference in weight between a loaded gun and an unloaded one." I said, careful to not let my frayed nerves affect my voice. "You can add attempted assassination of the reigning monarch to your list of charges."

Rusl stepped around the desk and swung his stun baton into Linebeck's neck, knocking him unconscious with several million volts of electricity. In seconds, he was handcuffed and thrown down by the door.

I nodded and sat down at the desk, preparing myself for what I was about to have to do.

"Okay." I said, exhaling. "Let's un-fuck this planet."

…

Malon

…

I received three more increasingly frantic calls from Link before I made it to Koholint Island. The volcano was acting up, and he had suspicions that it was going to erupt soon.

 _Of course it would erupt right now. Dormant for years, up until Link sets foot on it. That man is a magnet for disaster._

I breathed a sigh of relief as I approached the island and aimed for the designated pickup area. The villagers were already gathered around a plume of orange smoke that Saria had dropped. I had just enough seats for the group in the helicopter I had borrowed without permission from an Air Force base.

I landed on a long ridge, setting just the back end of the helicopter on the edge so that it hovered over the several-hundred meter drop below. The onboard AI maintained the positioning and opened the back hatch while I stood up and walked back to open the door.

A sudden vibration caught me off guard, and I realized why Link had been so worried. The mountain shook violently for several seconds, preventing me from moving for fear of falling out the back of the helicopter.

Once the shaking had stopped, I ushered the villagers in. A blonde-haired girl boarded last in the group. Arnav Nohansen followed her in, but I didn't give him much attention. Hopefully he hadn't found out that I was the same pilot who had run a kamikaze mission on his escape ship. Saria followed, motioning for me to get back to the cockpit.

I ignored her and looked at Link. He grinned and tossed me his helmet, which still had a bullet lodged in the visor. His armor had several dents in the chest and shoulders, although he looked fine otherwise.

I sighed and shook my head.

"Thank the Goddesses you're here." Link shouted over the sound of the dual rotors.

He caressed my cheek for a moment, looking into my eyes.

"Thanks for not dying." I said, slightly exasperated at how many time he had been shot.

He pressed his forehead up to mine for a second, and then separated and headed over to the last seat. The blonde girl stared at me with a new kind of interest as I moved back to the cockpit. Saria was working on getting Arnav chained up in the corner, so I gave her a moment.

The volcano rumbled even more violently than before, nearly knocking me off my feet. I slammed the button to close the door and verbally instructed the AI to lift the helicopter off the ridge, which it did. The vibrations ceased, but I could still feel a strange pressure. Link, Saria, and Arnav all paused.

"You feel it, too?" I asked Link. He nodded.

I ran back to the cockpit, ready to get the hell away from this place. The fact that it was Link's birthplace just barely crossed my mind as I sat down in the cockpit.

 _How appropriate that a place like this spawned the most dangerous person I know._

I tilted the sticks back and opened the throttle, gaining altitude quickly until a warning from the AI stopped me.

 _One humanoid life form still remains below._

The letters flashed across the helicopter's window, forcing me to close the throttle and hover. I turned back and looked through the cockpit door to Link.

"Do you have everyone?" I yelled. He looked at the group and then nodded, confused.

I looked down at the display and switched to thermals. Below, hidden by a clump of foliage near the weathered-down crater of the volcano, was a single armored Gerudo woman. She was standing perfectly still with her hands resting on the hilt of a large sword. Its point was buried in the ground, and strange waves of heat were rising up around her.

I motioned for Link to look, which he did. Once he had stared at the image for a few seconds, he scowled.

"She's using magic, but I don't know what it is." He said. "Somehow I have a feeling she's the source of the earthquakes."

"How could one person cause that much disturbance, though?" I asked. It seemed impossible. Even at Link's strongest, his magic never came close to having the power to shake entire islands.

Link stared at the screen for a few more moments, and I was about to keep flying away when he reached for the weapons panel.

"That's Aveil." He said.

I paused uncertainly.

"She's armored and we're on thermals. How can you be sure of that?"

"After someone tries to kill me, I can feel them. Their bloodlust. And Aveil certainly has a lot of bloodlust."

"What will you do?"

He pressed a few icons on the weapons panel and engaged the mini gun, which was stored above the loading door. It floated down from its hatch, suspended in the air by magnets and pulling a chain of linked ammunition connected to the ceiling.

Link opened the loading door and took hold of the mini gun.

"Cover your ears!" He yelled to the villagers, who looked shocked. Arnav could only groan, since his hands were tied behind his back.

Once the door was open, Link opened fire on Aveil's location. The mini gun let loose a continuous growl unmatched by any other weaponry the Hylian Empire had ever created, spitting out over four thousand rounds in a span of thirty seconds. By the time Link stopped, the eight spinning barrels were glowing bright red.

Once the dust cleared away from the clump of trees Aveil was hiding in, I scowled. Not only was she still standing, it looked as if she hadn't been affected at all. The bullets had ricocheted around the general vicinity and ripped apart everything within five meters of her, but there was some sort of impenetrable barrier blocking them hitting her.

Link was by my side in a flash, staring at the thermals. I shook my head in frustration.

"Fuck this, we need to get out-"

A monstrous crack nearly blew out my eardrums. It was the single loudest noise I had ever heard, and came with a shock wave so powerful that it sent our helicopter skittering across the sky. It took a few seconds to regain control.

I turned back to look at the volcano. The top had been blown to pieces, and was now flinging magma thousands of feet into the air. I opened up the throttle, fully intent on getting the hell out of the way, but a loud roar froze the blood in my veins.

 _Volcanoes don't roar._

"We need to go!" Link said, shaking me into reality. "There's something coming."

I nodded and turned us directly away from the volcano, disregarding what direction we needed to take to get back to the mainland. Link went to the back and stared out the loading door as he worked on reloading the mini gun. Another roar broke through the sound of the blades.

"What the hell is that?!" I yelled, looking back at the cloud of ash rising from the volcano.

A flash of red moved through the ash and burst through the edge of the cloud. I almost didn't believe what I was seeing. A flaming dragon at least thirty meters long had emerged from the magma and was flying towards us at breakneck speeds. It had two long arms with vicious, curved claws, but otherwise lacked wings. Its entire body was covered in a writhing layer of flames.

 _Oh my goddesses, that's a dragon!_

The helicopter was going as fast as it could go, but I could already tell it wasn't going to be enough. That dragon was coming for us, and could move about twice as fast as we could.

Link slammed down the cover of the mini gun's feed tray and opened fire, spitting out a steady stream of tracer rounds towards the dragon. The rounds impacted behind its head, and I didn't see many of them ricochet. The dragon roared and gained altitude, and then lowered its enormous horns and sped towards us.

Link continued the steady stream of fire, but it became clear that it wasn't going to be very effective. The villagers were nearly in panic mode by this point, and two of them had gotten up from their seats.

"Sit down!" I yelled, and then banked hard to the right as the dragon approached. Fortunately, it didn't seem quite as agile as my helicopter, and overshot us as it passed by.

"Gain altitude!" Link yelled through a break in fire. I did as he asked, and we quickly reached the altitude ceiling.

 _We have to go higher._

I ignored the warnings on my screen and kept climbing, soon reaching eight thousand meters. It looked as if the dragon was struggling to gain speed while moving straight up, but it was definitely still chasing us. We were out of range for the minigun, so Link took the chance to change the barrels and reload.

As the helicopter struggled higher into the atmosphere, I compiled the video data and forwarded it to Medli. If we didn't make it out of here, they would need to know what they were up against and what the Eta Ali were potentially capable of. I had a feeling that this dragon hadn't blown itself out of a volcano by chance.

Finally we reached the actual maximum altitude of the helicopter. At nine thousand meters, the villagers were left shivering and gasping for air as the atmospheric pressure dropped below safe levels. Link showed no signs of pain, though, and continued tracking the dragon as it labored behind us. I kicked the helicopter into forward motion, fully knowing that we would lose a lot of altitude now that the blades weren't working entirely towards lifting us vertically.

We dropped like a rock, picking up speed but momentarily inducing weightlessness in the cabin. Link ended up hanging onto the minigun to keep himself inside the helicopter. As we dropped past the dragon, he released a stream of bullets into its face, causing it to recoil backwards.

"Got him in the eye!" He yelled triumphantly.

 _So it can be hurt._

We were now going well over the helicopter's advertised maximum velocity, but I didn't care. I had flown this model several times in the Army, and I knew it could go slightly faster.

The other option was to die, so I didn't have much of a choice.

We couldn't outrun the dragon forever, though, and it quickly recovered from its discomfort. I couldn't tell if the eye had been torn apart, but the wound had certainly enraged it further. It was now flying faster than before.

 _It's going to catch us in ten seconds!_

We were at seven thousand meters, so I couldn't climb too much higher. Despite that, I started to pull the sticks back and climb higher. At the very least, it would tire the dragon out.

"Malon, wait!" Link yelled.

I looked back to see that Saria had taken over the minigun. Link had drawn the Master Sword and was hanging onto the handle by the open loading door.

 _You've got to be kidding me._

…

Link

…

"Drop some altitude and let it get closer!" I yelled. "When he's about a hundred meters behind us, open the throttle and gain as much altitude as you can!"

I could almost feel Malon's glare from behind her helmet, but I knew she would do it. The helicopter angled downwards, once again gaining speed and dropping altitude. The dragon was still catching up, but it would be easier to gain altitude quickly if we were closer to sea level.

As predicted, the dragon dived with us, picking up speed and roaring angrily. I prepared myself, judging the speed of the helicopter and predicting when to act. I wished that my helmet hadn't been broken, but there was nothing to do about it now.

 _My goddesses, am I seriously about to do this? And are we seriously being chased by a dragon?! I thought those didn't exist!_

They were the stuff of legends. I remembered something about a fire dragon in the legend of one of the heroes of old, but I couldn't remember which one it was. I knew what I needed to do, though. The Master Sword was probably the only thing I had that could do serious damage to it.

When the dragon closed the distance to a hundred meters, Malon yanked the stick back and we shot into the air. I waited for just under two seconds.

And then I jumped.

The wind rushing against my face would have been a lot nicer if I hadn't been falling directly towards a flaming dragon. It breathed a long stream of fire as it saw me falling, but it was too late. I activated the propulsion jets on my TALOS suit to help guide me. They weren't designed for the task, and ended up speeding me through the air as they fired to keep me stable.

I braced the Master Sword with both hands and pressed the bottom of the hilt into my chest.

 _This is literally the most stupid thing I've ever done._

I slammed into the dragon's skull with enough force to shatter all of my bones if I hadn't been wearing my TALOS suit. The Master Sword cut through the fiery hide and bones beneath it with a sickening crunch, spraying fire out of the wound. I coughed and turned my face away, aware that I had already lost an eyebrow and a significant amount of hair to the heat.

The dragon roared in agony, writhing in the air as the pain of the wound overwhelmed its senses. I yanked the Master Sword out of the wound and hacked at its neck several times, creating a deep gash that went nearly a third of the way through its body.

A burst of minigun fire punched into the stab wound, sending the dragon into another frenzy just as it had started to recover. I quickly ran down the length of its body to give Saria more room for error. While I sliced at the dragon's arms, she pummeled the wounds I had created with bullets.

The dragon released another jet of fire towards the helicopter, but Malon pulled away quick enough to avoid it. In a last ditch effort, it twisted around to try to throw me off. I slammed the Master Sword down into its body and held on for dear life. My left arm was throbbing, but I ignored it. I didn't have the luxury of letting that pain overcome me.

When the dragon was upside down, Saria unleashed fury on it with the minigun. The fiery hide around its throat proved to be much more vulnerable to bullets than the rest of its body, and the bullets impacting there forced it to roll back over. That only gave Saria more openings to shoot into its wounds.

I was unsure how the dragon was still alive with a hole over half a meter deep in its head, but it seemed to be suffering. Flames and liquid magma were spewing from its wounds in alarming amounts, and I had to dodge a few splashes before I could continue hacking away at its body. One stream of fire hit my already-burnt face, and I had to slap my hair several times to put it out.

"Just die!" I yelled, stabbing at the dragon again. It roared in frustration and twisted again, but began to lose altitude.

I stabbed again and again while Saria fired rounds into the dragon's head. Malon kept the helicopter as close as she could, but eventually the dragon entered a free fall. The fire spewing from its body dimmed, and was finally extinguished in the rushing wind.

 _Shit, I'm falling._

I leapt off the back of the dragon, sheathing the Master Sword in the process. It was dead, but I was now hurtling towards the surface of the water at an alarmingly fast rate. Malon was pushing the helicopter faster in an attempt to reach me, so I spread my arms out wide and assumed the highest-drag position I could muster.

She crept closer, finally tipping the nose of the helicopter down and racing past me. At just three thousand meters above the surface of the ocean, she pulled up slightly. It was a move only a master could make, allowing me to slip under the rear rotor and grab onto Saria's outstretched hand.

Saria's other hand was locked around the steel bar next to the loading door, locked in place by her TALOS suit. The force of her catching me nearly ripped the bar from the frame of the helicopter, and jerked the entire aircraft down. After slamming awkwardly into the edge of the open door, I latched onto the bottom of the ledge with my free hand and pulled myself up.

The villagers were all staring at me with their mouths wide open in shock, but nobody said anything for several moments. Malon put the helicopter's rotors into silent mode, which was only effective at cruising speed, and walked back into the cabin.

"You… your… shit, that looks bad." She said, a look of concern spreading across her face.

I reached up and touched the burnt skin on the left side of my head and neck, groaning as I realized it was covered in second and, perhaps, third degree burns. With the realization came the pain, which only got worse as the adrenaline wore off.

"I'll take care of it." Saria said, reaching up to the first aid kit. Marin stopped her.

"Let me be useful."

Saria nodded, and Marin dug through the kit to find the burn pack. Malon grudgingly went back to the cockpit as she realized there was nothing she could do.

Marin's hands were shaking, and I realized how traumatizing this entire day had turned out to be. It was among the worst missions I had ever been on, so I could only imagine what it was doing to the villagers who had no real experience with combat.

I had to tell Marin what to do with some of the things in the burn pack, but for the most part she seemed to be self-sufficient. Even talking was becoming difficult, because the skin around the left side of my mouth had been severely burned.

"We'll need to get you to a hospital as soon as we get back." Malon said from the cockpit. I was glad that I could hear her over the rotors now.

"Save for you and Saria, everyone here probably needs to go to a hospital." I said, grimacing at the stinging pain. I jumped as Marin applied a cream to the burns.

"Silver sulfadiazine." She said. "So you don't get an infection."

 _Goddesses, that's going to hurt in a few minutes._

Sure enough, my entire body began to ache as the medication soaked into my burnt skin. I had used it enough to know that I was going to be in horrible pain until I got to a hospital and had new skin cultured and transplanted onto my face, so I rummaged through the first aid kit and found a weak sedative.

"Use this." I said, handing it to Marin with a syringe.

"What…"

"Just do it, I'll be fine. I don't want to be feeling this for the next three hours while we're going back to Sanctuary."

She sighed and drew a full dose into the syringe. I nudged her hand, making her pull in another quarter-dose.

"It won't kill me."

She injected the sedative in the side of my neck, and the world got fuzzy. The pain faded, and I drifted off to sleep.

…

Zelda

…

By the time Malon, Link, and Saria arrived in Sanctuary and returned the stolen helicopter to a group of very confused Air Force officers, the worst of the rioting had died down. I was yet to make a public statement about Linebeck's arrest, since it could potentially make the situation worse. If things kept calming down, I would announce the details to the public and let them know what was happening.

In the meantime, I had instructed Rauru to take charge of the Forest Rangers. Medli was assisting him, since we had pulled her from the organization less than a year before. Using information we had acquired from Linebeck's servers, the Forest Rangers were hunting down the Eta Ali's agents. These agents had been the main instigators in causing the protests to turn violent, although the extent of their involvement with the cult had yet to be determined. We had already captured eight, although it was estimated there were nearly one hundred.

 _It's better than nothing, I guess._

The Gerudo who had been captured on Koholint Island was also a concern, and was being kept in the Sanctuary Prison under intensive medical care. She would have to be stabilized and healed before she could be interrogated. Luckily I didn't have to deal with that.

There were a few more hours until nightfall, and the Forest Rangers were already working on pacifying the protests in the other major cities. Most of the rioters were teenagers that weren't overly committed to the cause. A few separatist zealots proved to be more aggressive, but were also easier to pick out. Without them buried in the protests, the riots would lose a lot of fuel.

The most pressing issue I was facing was the capture of Arnav Nohansen, who was now sitting across from me in Linebeck's office. He was chained around his neck and all four limbs, but had yet to show any indication of aggression. Saria had already given me a rundown of what he had said to Link, but I wanted to hear it from him. After all, Saria hadn't been in the room.

"So…" I said, making sure I understood him. "You're saying that the Church of Eta Ali was your major financer, and called a lot of the shots during the war?"

"They were a significant factor, yes."

"Are they the ones who gave you delusions of grandeur?"

He shrugged.

"I still believe that I could have been a better monarch, had I been given the chance."

I rolled my eyes.

"Spare me. But why should I believe you? And what benefit does that give me? Everything you told me doesn't change anything."

"Because you want to find them, and they want to find me." Arnav said simply.

"You want to be bait." I said. He nodded.

"I'll help you find them. At the very least, they'll think I had something to do with the raid in Koholint and want to interrogate me. They'll want revenge."

"And in exchange?" I asked.

"You give me a ship with a jump drive and keep my status as MIA."

"Absolutely not." I said calmly. "You can't seriously think I can do that."

"Why not? How many people know that I'm alive? And of those people, how many people know that I've been captured by the Empire?"

"You started a war that killed _billions._ Do you really think I'm going to let you go just like that? You'll be lucky if you don't get executed by being ejected towards the nearest star in a space suit."

"Ah, a painful death to be sure. But you must know that the Church of Eta Ali is the biggest threat to Hyrule's existence right now, not me. I'm willing to disappear into uncolonized space for the rest of my life, whereas the Eta Ali will only continue to try to break up the Empire and kill you. And Link."

I stared at him for a few seconds.

"I have a feeling we'll find the Eta Ali with the information available to us. I don't need to let a war criminal escape."

Arnav shrugged.

"What will you do with me, then?" He asked.

"I'll turn you over to the courts and let your fate be decided by a jury of your peers. As you know, Hyrule reserves capital punishment for traitors only. I consider you to be one, and I think it's likely you'll be sentenced to death."

"Am I truly a traitor for fighting for what I believe in?" Arnav asked, his voice icy.

"Stand amongst the ashes of two billion dead souls and ask the ghosts if your beliefs matter. The silence is your answer." I replied, and then turned to Impa. "Take him out. Lock him up in the darkest place of the prison's dungeon. Nobody is to see him or know he exists."

She nodded and dragged him out of the room, allowing me to relax.

"What's going on with Link?" I asked Bo, who was still standing in the back of the office.

"I haven't heard anything yet, beyond Saria's initial report when they landed." He replied. "I'm certain they've taken him to the hospital, and it will probably be several hours before the doctors can grow new skin and start the healing process."

I sighed and shook my head.

"A flaming dragon, of all things. And they think Aveil summoned it."

"Honestly, I didn't even know regular dragons existed. Much less flaming ones." Bo said with a shrug. "Glad they made it out of that mess. I watched Sword's helmet video, and I don't think I could have made it out of that one. It's a wonder Link was the only one hurt."

I checked my watch and, seeing that it was already past dinner time, stood up from the desk and walked around to the door.

"I'm going to go visit him." I said. "I've done all I can do today."

Bo nodded and followed me. I was certain that he didn't want to be the only one guarding me, so I put on a cloak and covered myself with the hood. This was common enough on Faron that I wouldn't attract any undue attention with my secrecy.

The hospital was a short walk away from Linebeck's government office. Most of the staff had vacated for the day, despite the chaos of the past 48 hours, and the guards at the front gate didn't give me a second glance. The streets were quiet and, thankfully, empty. I arrived at the hospital less than fifteen minutes later.

The burn ward was on the third floor, so I made my way there. I didn't even have to ask where Link was, since Malon was passed out on a bench outside his room. It was hard to miss her shockingly red hair amongst the whitewashed walls of the hospital. I didn't wake her up as I crept in the room. Bo waited outside at my request.

Link was asleep, kept under by the effects of whatever medications the doctors had him on. The left side of his face was covered in gauze and bandages, and he had a cast on his left arm. I could see several of his ribs had a compression wrap around them, meaning they were broken. His shoulders and upper chest were covered in dark purple bruises.

A blonde-haired girl about his age was sitting next to his bed with a distant look on her face. She didn't seem to have noticed me enter, and I could only assume she was one of the villagers that had been rescued. She was holding his left hand with both of her own.

"How's he doing?" I asked, pulling her out of her trance. She jumped away from the bed as if she were going to have to defend herself.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

I didn't expect an islander who hadn't seen anything of the outside world in over five years would recognize me, so I pulled the hood of my cloak down.

"I'm his commander." I said, figuring that it wasn't a lie. "Who are you?"

"I'm… Marin. I… he saved me. I was his friend when we were kids."

She looked gaunt and unhealthy, like she had been starved for years.

"Ah, I see. So you're one of the citizens of Mabe Village that I heard about."

"You said you're his commander?" She asked, her defensive nature abating. I nodded, and she continued. "He… Link is really powerful. What does he do? What's his job?"

"He's in a special unit. He's one of the most skilled soldiers in the military." I said.

"Your unit?"

I nodded.

"But what does he do?" Marin asked.

 _She's extremely curious._

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass on answering that question." I replied. "Ask him when he wakes up and he might give you more details."

Marin looked disappointed, but nodded and glanced back over at Link.

"I always dreamt of the day someone would save us. I even dreamt that it would be Link, but…"

I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder, unsure of how to console her.

"I'm sorry that this happened to you. Nobody deserves that, and we should have found you sooner."

Marin had tears in her eyes.

"It's over now, and that's what matters. I just can't believe he came back for us. He really did grow into the man I thought he would."

I glanced at her, realizing that she had probably been fantasizing about being saved for years now.

"How close were you two?" I asked curiously. "Before the attack, I mean."

Marin smiled and sounded excited when she answered me.

"We grew up next door to each other. We supported each other through everything, up until the point where he left for the Navy. I wish he hadn't left, but he had to." She said. "We… Well, I shouldn't say that."

I was beginning to understand.

"Did you love him?"

Marin looked at me, surprised.

"I…" She started uncertainly.

I cringed on the inside, already seeing what had happened. Lacking any kind of substantial hope in her life, she had probably hung onto Link as one of the few good things left after the attack. Over five years of imprisonment, she had likely let what was once a mild love flourish into a fantasy of him coming back to save her, which had ended up happening. He was her knight in shining armor, per se. He had even slain a dragon in the process, which was morbidly stereotypical and amusing.

There was no good way to break the news to her.

"Marin, can I tell you a few things?" I asked.

"Of course. What's your name, though?" She asked, a giddy smile on her face. I could only imagine that she was ecstatic that someone had noticed her affection for Link.

"It's Hazel." I replied, using my middle name. "Why don't you sit down?"

Marin did as I asked without questioning me.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, seeing the grim expression on my face.

"Well, yes. But probably not what you're thinking." I said. "Have you thought about what Link has been doing during the past five years?"

"He's… well no, I guess not." Marin said. "I got messages every now and then before the attack. He had been training for months when it happened and I lost contact. We still heard the Gerudo discussing the news occasionally, so we knew a war had started. Some of them were more forthcoming with information than others. I didn't even know if he was alive before I saw him, though. All I heard about was how many people had died."

"You're not wrong." I said. "That's certainly what he was doing, but don't forget that his personal life continued on, as well. It was thought that everyone on Koholint Island had died in the attack. He had to come to grips with that and move on, which he did."

"What does that mean?"

I walked around the bed, inspecting Link.

"He…" I started, unsure of the best way to handle this conversation. "Well, he gave up hope that he would ever see you or any of the Koholint residents again. He had to. While I'm certain that he still cares for all of you, he still kept living."

I looked up at her.

"Marin, did you see that red-haired woman outside?"

She nodded, looking confused.

"She was the pilot of the helicopter, right?"

I nodded.

"He's married to her."

Marin peered at me for a minute, as if she didn't quite comprehend what I was saying. After a few seconds, she stood up and walked to the door to peek out at Malon.

"Her?" She asked, perplexed. I nodded.

"I… I didn't know. I guess I thought something was up when I saw him greet her in the helicopter, but…"

"I know." I said. "I'm sorry I had to tell you. The alternative was that you would find out when Malon wakes up and comes in here."

"No, I appreciate it." Marin said, although her eyes told a different story.

I walked over to Link and put my hand on his forehead. He had a slight fever, but it didn't seem serious. He would likely be healed within a day or two once the surgeons got around to fixing his face.

"What he does for the people he cares about is unreal sometimes." I said. "It's natural that you're drawn to him. I can't blame you."

I sighed. Link was always getting himself hurt for the sake of others, and I had been one of the most frequent recipients of his selflessness. I owed him more than I could ever give him, but I had a feeling he didn't want anything from me.

 _What do you do this for?_ I wondered. It wasn't about the money, and certainly not the glory. In one of his more human moments, he had confided to me that he was primarily motivated by his desire for revenge on the Church of Eta Ali. Despite that, I had a feeling there was more to it.

I felt something stirring within me when I looked at his battered body.

 _Remorse?_

I touched his hand for a moment, realizing that I had never tried to before. After all, I had never had a reason. The second my skin contacted his, it felt like a bolt of lightning running up my arm. I jumped away, staring at him in shock.

An image of the Triforce was glowing on the back of his hand, with the bottom-right triangle standing out brighter than the other two. On the back of my hand, a similar image was present, although the bottom-left triangle was more defined.

"What the hell…" I muttered, staring at the apparition.

Link's one visible eye opened, and he looked over at me in shock. The sedative seemed to have completely worn off.

"Zelda? What are you doing here?"

Marin stared at me in shock when he said my name.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing at his hand.

He looked at the mark of the Triforce, confused.

"I… I don't know. It's on your hand, too."

I stared at the mark uneasily.

 _What does this mean?_

…

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **Also I realize that the switch from "Sword" to "Saria" may cause some confusion (her identity was revealed in Pt. 2 Ch. 2, for those have forgotten). Don't forget it's the same person!**

 **Least important: If any of you guys play RuneScape Old School and want to hang out, hit me up. My username is Vivi303030. PM me yours and I'll add you.**


	19. Part 2 Chapter 4

**If you get to the showdown at the factory and want a tangible representation of how I visualized the fight, check out the Zelda Informer article "The Fine Art of Zelda" and look at the first picture. I would draw a sci-fi version of this for you guys, but it would involve stick figures and probably wouldn't convey anything besides how bad of an artist I am.**

Part 2 Chapter 4

Link

After I woke up, my wounds healed in a matter of hours. It was something to do with the mark of the Triforce. My pain was gone, and I was able to function normally before nightfall. The doctors were astounded when I walked out of the room on my own, and after a heated debate between the staff I was discharged.

As it turned out, killing flaming dragons wasn't included in the list of things the TALOS suit could handle, so mine was completely ruined. Most of the electronics were fried, the helmet was a loss, and the bullets that had impacted the torso had done enough damage to reduce the structural integrity.

I groaned as I took my armor apart in my borrowed room. Zelda had commandeered the government hotel reserved for visiting emissaries, and for now it looked like there wouldn't be any violence tonight. Medli returned late in the evening to check in, but only slept for about thirty minutes before going back out to hunt for the Eta Ali agents.

It was decided unanimously that Saria and I had earned our rest, and so I was ordered in rather explicit terms to remain in the building. For once, I didn't feel the urge to get out and do something. Zelda didn't have plans to leave until morning anyways.

I sighed as I flopped down on the incredibly soft mattress.

"Come over here." Malon said, nudging me towards the bathroom. "Let's take care of your hair."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'm shaving it." She replied. "You're supposed to be one of Hyrule's most dangerous warriors, which involves not looking like a moron."

"Yeah, but…"

"You'll be fine. It will grow back in a couple months."

I groaned, doubting that that half of my head would ever grow hair again. The new skin looked fresher than it had been before I was burnt, but I didn't know how extensive that magical healing had been.

I could tell Malon was upset, but I didn't probe her for information as she cut my hair. She would tell me when she felt like it, and I already knew what it was about.

When she was finished shaving my head, she turned on the shower for me and paused for a second with her hand on the counter.

"Who was that blonde girl? Marin was her name?"

"Yeah, she's my friend from when I was growing up. She lived next door to me."

"What did Zelda say to her?"

I stared at her quizzically.

"I wasn't aware they spoke to each other."

"She ran out of the room crying." Malon said. "Gave me a hell of a nasty look, too. I'm not sure what I did between saving her life and that point that would have pissed her off so bad, but she definitely looked like she hated me."

"I haven't told you what happened to her on the island." I said. "She's wasn't just a slave. The King's Collective troops stationed there have been raping her repeatedly for several years now. She's probably very unstable."

Malon scowled.

"Fucking pigs, all of them. Was Arnav involved?"

"He insisted he wasn't, and none of the villagers recognized him. I would have killed him if they had."

I stripped down and hopped in the shower as we talked, making sure to fill Malon in with everything I had seen on the island from the moment we landed. She had read the reports, of course, but those were brief and only contained the highlights. She pulled the video data from my TALOS suit and watched it as I finished up.

"You killed a lot of them." She said as I wandered back to the bed.

"What's your count?" I asked.

"It's hard to tell with the bunker since you didn't get a good count of how many Gerudo and King's Collective soldiers were in the bedroom, but I'm thinking over twenty."

"Good."

Malon glanced over at me.

"Never heard you say that one before."

"It would be different if the Gerudo weren't Eta Ali and the men weren't keeping sex slaves."

Malon sighed.

"This is the first lead we've ever gotten on the Church of Eta Ali, but I wish a planet hadn't been plunged into chaos in the process. Hundreds of people died last night before the rioters went home. I didn't get to bed until five, and then I got woken up at seven by some dude breaking down my door."

"We should be fine here." I said. "The whole place is swarming with guards and there's several Forest Rangers around. Even if there's riots tonight, they won't be making it in here."

"I know. I'm not worried about that." Malon said. "I'm just worried about you."

"Oh come on, you know I'll be fine." I said.

Malon closed her eyes for a second and breathed deeply.

"Link, I… I've been through some shit with you. I watched you have dark magic purged from your body, and then you disappeared for several hours and I thought you were dead. I've watched you in combat so many times, I can't even begin to count. I've seen you take an armor-piercing bullet for Zelda. I saw the aftermath of Aveil trying to kill you after you threw yourself in harm's way again. All to save someone else. What I saw today, though… It got to me."

She sniffed quietly, and I realized a few tears were rolling down her cheeks. Her voice didn't waver as she continued.

"I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that I almost died, too. Maybe that's what has me so bent out of shape. But I watched you throw yourself out of a helicopter and literally kill a dragon with a sword in midair. And then to see you burnt so badly in the process…"

She paused, so I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She didn't resist.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so sensitive." She said. "You and I have been putting ourselves in harm's way for years, and we both made it out okay every time."

"You're not being sensitive." I said. "If our positions were switched, I'd feel the same way."

"I guess so." Malon mumbled. After a moment, she buried her face in my chest.

"You know you're everything I have, right?" She asked quietly. "You're it. The only one I love. If I lose you…"

"You're not going to lose me." I said, pulling her closer.

"You do a pretty good job of convincing me otherwise." She grumbled.

We sat with each other for a moment, and I realized it had been my first real chance to give her any attention in weeks. I often got caught up with work and went into recluse mode, which had much more of an effect on Malon than I realized.

 _I hope she didn't make a mistake marrying me._

Truthfully, I knew that I was difficult to be married to just because of what I did on a daily basis. Malon knew it, and she knew that I knew it. It wasn't something I could fix overnight, so I did my best to treat her right. She didn't ask much from me, so long as I would be there for her.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, burying my face in her red hair and holding her for a moment.

We sat with each other for a while longer, finally able to enjoy each other's company without the imminent threat of riots and widespread death. Sometimes I had to take these moments to appreciate Malon and everything she did for me. There was still plenty of work to be done in the morning, but for the rest of the night we simply enjoyed being with each other.

After all, the world would keep turning without our constant interference.

…

With my personal issues sorted out, the most important matter was concerning the captured Gerudo. She was being held in captivity and undergoing treatment for her amputated leg. The leg was a complete loss, but her armor had prevented her from bleeding out or getting an infection. She was presently being kept in the lowest level of the capital's maximum security prison.

Impa was with me, but wasn't planning on interfering.

The guards at every security point outside and inside the prison were entirely skeptical of me. Since my armor had been eviscerated, I had switched to a standard bullet-resistant vest laced with a special polymer capable of dissipating energy blasts and scattering lasers. Over that, I wore a green-gray cloak that interfered with an observer's vision, preventing their eyes from focusing on me. I had the hood up to cover my face, and was armed with the Master Sword at my hip and a handgun on my belt. I had a new scope coming from Castle for my Supernova, but that wouldn't be here for another few days.

Once my biometrics cleared the prison's security, I made my way into "The Dungeon," as it was called. The Gerudo was in the last isolated cell, wide awake despite the early hour. She said nothing as the door was unlocked and I walked in. Impa remained in the shadows, unseen and unheard. I was glad she had placed me in charge of getting information from the prisoner. Before we left, Zelda had offered an exemption to standard interrogation methods for this specific prisoner. I was simply to refrain from committing war crimes, but I was generally allowed to do what I wanted to extract information.

I hadn't expected an agent of Eta Ali to look quite so normal, but I couldn't place what I was expecting. She looked just like any other Gerudo, with dark red hair and brown skin. Her forehead and nose were more pronounced than a Hylian's. Her red eyes burned with a deep-seated hatred, and never wavered as I stared down at her.

"Identify yourself in accordance with your military's instructions in the event of capture, please." I said pleasantly.

"I would know who is asking." The Gerudo said. Her voice was surprisingly low and smooth.

"Sergeant Link White, Hylian Special Services Corps." I replied.

"I've never seen a Hylian soldier in a cloak."

"Please identify yourself." I said, knowing better than to engage in conversation on her terms.

"I am Shilia."

"Of what military force?" I asked.

I was met with silence.

As much as I wanted to torment this woman and slit her throat right here, I would never get the information I needed that way. There was only one effective method of interrogation that I had ever used, and it was time to use it to the best of my ability.

"So look, I understand that you've been instructed to maintain secrecy." I said. "I really do.

But I can't help you if you don't help me. You need to be reported missing and alive to your chain of command."

Shilia simply stared at me.

"Okay, well maybe another time." I said, and then looked around the cell. "Let me get you out of this cesspool. Have you eaten since you woke up?"

I knew she hadn't, but she didn't know that I knew that. Her blank stare broke slightly, making way for a hint of confusion.

"I have not." She said simply.

"I'll be back in a minute."

I stepped out of the cell and closed the door. Once I knew that she couldn't hear me, I looked at Impa.

"I need a meal that tastes good, but don't overdo it."

"Are you going with the 'good cop, bad cop' approach?" She asked.

"Not quite." I replied. "Get me the meal and you'll see. I'm not getting any information today, but that's okay. I didn't expect to."

"Very well, I shall return shortly."

Impa disappeared down the hall, and I walked to the guard desk.

"I need the Gerudo transferred to a better cell." I said.

The guard sitting behind the desk stared at me in amazement. He had already shown his displeasure with me the first time I passed him, but apparently this was going too far.

"Now look here, I don't know what kind of organization you're running, but I doubt it's a prison. That's the second-most high profile criminal we've got here, and she's in one of the strongest cells. There's nowhere else in this prison-"

I pulled out my military ID and handed it to him.

"Scan it. Check my clearance. Then do as I say."

He rolled his eyes and scanned my card into his computer. After staring at the screen for a few seconds, he huffed and handed my card back.

"Authority of the queen, my ass. Fine, you can have what you want. If she gets out, it's your fault. Where do you want her?"

"Do you have a more comfortable cell? She doesn't even have a mattress in there."

"Are you-"

I slammed my fist down on the desk, stopping any sort of protest. The guard took a deep breath, glared at me for a second, and then tapped a few boxes on his screen. It took several minutes, but he finally nodded and motioned down the hall.

"Move her to unit four. It should be a little more comfortable."

"Next time a queen's agent asks you to do something, I would advise you to do it immediately and without question."

I didn't react when I heard Impa's voice chastising the guard from behind me. He sighed and looked down at his desk.

"My apologies to both of you."

I ignored him and walked back to unit eight, where the Gerudo was being kept. I wasn't surprised that it had only taken Impa a few minutes to find a decent meal and several cartons of fruit juice.

"Thank you." I said. "Just put that in unit four and I'll be right over."

I opened the cell door and pressed a few buttons on the control panel. The chains holding Shilia released, and she dropped to the floor. She tried to catch herself on the way down, but still hadn't adapted to the stump that used to be her leg.

 _Good thing she doesn't know I'm the one who did that. I'd never get anywhere._

I walked over and offered her my hand.

"Come on, I got you transferred to a new cell."

She struggled to her one remaining foot on her own, ignoring me.

"I'm sorry, I don't have a crutch or anything for you." I said. "I'll have to help you down to the new cell."

"I don't need your pity." She said, hopping on one foot out the cell door.

I followed her down the short hallway, not bothering with handcuffs. She may have been resourceful, but there was no way a one-legged Gerudo was going to get the jump on me. Fortunately, she hopped into the open door of cell four and looked around.

"Are you going to chain me up again?"

"As you'll see, there's no chains." I said. "I'm sorry you were locked up like that. Just because you're a prisoner of war doesn't mean you'll be abused."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"You will." I assured her. "You're free to eat, and you can simply call the guard if you want more. There's bedding for your mattress over there in the corner. Your leg will be seen to at least once a day until it heals."

I closed the cell door behind me and walked over to the stack of sheets, opening them and throwing them over the mattress. I talked with her as I made the bed.

"I heard you were captured on Koholint Island. That's one hell of a place to be stationed. We're not even allowed to go there."

I didn't get a response, so I readjusted my approach.

"Is there any way we can notify your chain of command that you've been captured without violating your secrecy? I'm sure your family would want to know that you're alive."

Shilia scowled at me for a second, and then looked down at the ground.

"It doesn't matter. I have failed my family by being taken captive."

"Well, it happens." I said, shrugging. "Prisoners of war are returned to their families all the time. It's not-"

"You clearly don't understand anything about my people." She snapped at me. "I should have died fighting your ghost warrior. If I go back, I'll be killed."

"But do you want to die?" I asked.

Shilia grunted, and offered no more response. I shrugged and walked to the cell door.

"Well, I'll be overseeing your stay here for now. If you need anything, just let the guard know. I'll have some books sent in so you have something to do."

With that, I left the cell and locked it behind me. Impa was waiting patiently on the other side of the door.

"I see. So you're being friendly." She said.

"Yes, I think it's the fastest way to get information from her." I replied. "Believe me, I've tried just about every form of torture in the books, and nothing works quite like treating the prisoner like a decent human being. Or Gerudo. Or Zora. Whatever you're dealing with at any given moment."

Impa shrugged.

"I was never able to play nice, but this is your project. If you believe that this is necessary, so be it." She said. "We have more important matters to see to for now."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like your training."

I frowned.

"What training?"

"Did you not notice that the power of the Triforce stirred within you? I suppose you have more of an excuse than the queen, because you barely pay attention to your magical energy anymore. You need to learn to control it if you'll ever have any hope of defeating the Eta Ali and the wretched curse on your bloodline."

I rolled my eyes.

"This sounds like a script out of a kid's storybook. Can't I just focus on the more pressing tasks for now?"

"This _is_ a pressing task. I will be teaching you myself, for a while. Afterwards I'll have to find you a real mage to help you control magic again."

"I don't need it." I argued.

"You will. Your physical abilities and marksmanship will fall short eventually, perhaps through no fault of your own. You now contain the potential to wield more magical energy than you ever did while bearing Demise's curse, if only you could learn to wield it."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Fine, Impa. If that's what you want me to spend my precious time doing, I'll play along. But when everyone starts complaining that we're spread too thin, I'll remind them that you've got me staring at the stars and meditating to find my inner self."

"The rewards will be well worth the effort invested." Impa replied.

"Yeah whatever, let's go."

…

As things wound down on Faron, Impa made good on her decision to train me. It was infuriating. I didn't feel as if I needed it, and I could have been doing a lot to help the other members of the SSC. I wasn't even taking shifts guarding Zelda, which was supposed to be the focal point of my job.

These thoughts pervaded what was otherwise supposed to be a concentration session in my room. Malon had left for the day to provide security for a squad of Forest Rangers apprehending one of the remaining Eta Ali agents, so I was alone with Impa.

"Concentrate, Link. I can feel your focus waning."

I grumbled to myself, but did as she said and continued to reach out with my magical energy.

"You must learn to control your inner energy before you can affect the energy of the world around you."

I was supposed to be masking my presence and seeking out the source of my magical power, which had been an effortless task before Demise's cursed magic had been stripped from me. Now I could barely even detect my own magical energy, much less block it. To do so, I had to withdraw completely within myself and focus on a certain imaginary point.

"Find a single thought and let your energy swirl around it." Impa said quietly.

I didn't feel any energy, but I knew what it was supposed to feel like. Focusing on Malon seemed to be the most effective strategy, so I stuck with it.

"Good, you're doing better. Withdraw deeper into your mind, allowing nothing of the outside world in. Start with a single sense and block it out. Then let the others follow, one by one. Only your own thoughts should remain."

 _I'll start with my sense of hearing so I don't have to listen to your voice anymore._

Surprisingly, it worked. I was able to block out any detection of Impa's voice, and then worked on each sense individually. I could no longer smell or feel anything but my memory of Malon. Once I closed my eyes, I was completely shut in. I stayed like that for what felt like hours, knowing I would be shaken into full consciousness if Impa wanted me to stop.

The point of this exercise was to be able to protect my mind against foreign invasion. According to Impa, some of the greatest mages could overwhelm a person by crushing their mental defenses and controlling their thoughts. Demise's curse had attempted to do that to me for years, so I had already built up a fairly strong defense by utilizing its power for my own purposes. Now that I lacked that power, though, I had to practice with other methods.

For a brief second in my meditation, I felt the underlying current of energy in my body that had surfaced only a couple times before. First, when Nabooru tried to kill me, and again when I had been badly hurt by the dragon a week prior. At first I hadn't believed that the magic had the capability to do anything but heal me, but Impa was certain that I could utilize it offensively. In fact, she was adamant that I was unable to defeat the Eta Ali without full control of it.

'It,' of course, had something to do with the Triforce. I had never given much credence to the legend of the sacred triangles, but it was hard to deny what I had seen when I woke up in the hospital room. Zelda and I had both had the Triforce marked on our hands at that time. Those marks had faded to mere shadows, but I could still see mine if I looked closely.

The more I thought about the Triforce, the more my underlying power seemed to surge into existence. Just as I thought I could reach out and touch it, though, it disappeared. It was frustrating, but this wasn't the first time this had happened. Every time I thought I could grasp at the magical energy, it slipped away. I would simply try again, and be careful to prevent the power from slipping outside my mental defenses.

My meditation went through cycles. I would meditate, find the energy, reach for the energy, and fail to come into contact with it. After half a dozen failed attempts, Impa roused me from my meditation by grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. I opened my eyes, and all my senses flooded back to me.

"Oh crap." I said, realizing that there was no longer any light coming in through the window. "What time is it?"

"You've been meditating for eight hours." Impa said.

Malon was standing behind her, looking concerned. I realized in an instant how hungry and thirsty I was.

"I need water." I said, standing up uncertainly. My legs were shaky, and my body was stiff. I had a hard time making it to the sink between all the aches and cramps.

"I'll get it." Malon said, stopping me and filling up a glass herself.

"What did you accomplish?" Impa asked me.

"Nothing. Same as before."

"But you stayed in a trance for twice as long as you did yesterday. And I didn't detect your magical footprint for even a brief moment." She pointed out.

"I just lost track of time." I said, frustrated. "It's literally the same thing every time. Every time I think I have it, it slips away. I'm just wasting time."

Impa frowned ever so slightly.

"Learning to utilize the power of the Triforce is not a waste of time."

"Yeah, whatever." I grumbled while throwing on my ballistic vest and weapon belt. I threw on my cloak before going to the door. "I'm going to find food."

"I can go with you." Malon offered, but I shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, you've had a long day and I'll be back soon."

I left the building, not particularly know where I was going. There weren't any restaurants open past dark since a state of emergency had been declared. The Forest Rangers were prowling the shadows here in Lanayru, but they knew to leave me alone. Luckily it looked as if this night would be as peaceful as the last few. All but one Eta Ali agent had been tracked down, and they were singing like birds. The Gerudo was our only actual link to the cult, though, as the agents leading the riots were mostly just paid rabble. As far as crime investigation went, all the money traced back to the same planet that had fed Linebeck his bribes.

That brought up the issue as to whether or not this was a trap. The Church of Eta Ali had so far avoided detection for over five years. Perhaps longer. Most of the general populace wasn't even convinced of its existence, although it was becoming harder to deny with the events of the last week. The press was going nuts over the story, and I had to dodge several reporters filming the damages and looking for soldiers to interview.

I couldn't imagine an organization as secretive as the Eta Ali had made such an obvious blunder, though. Because the unknown planet wasn't on any of the major travel routes, it would take several weeks to get there once a scouting party was actually formed. I had already requested to be part of that group and been denied. Zelda needed me here, and I understood.

I would be very surprised if the Eta Ali had any kind of serious operation on that mysterious planet. It was likely some sort of front and would only be a frustrating dead end for the Empire. Due to that prediction, I wasn't very upset that Zelda had denied my request.

My stomach growled, but I ignored it. I'd just have to find a pre-packaged military issue meal at the nearest Forest Ranger station, which was just a few hundred meters away.

As I was walking there, I noticed a single aircraft slipping through the sky. It wasn't marked by any identifying lights, and I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't blocked out the light from one of Faron's moons for a brief second.

 _That's weird, aircraft are banned from flying at night during a state of emergency._

I connected my radio to Medli, deciding I should see what was going on. The aircraft was descending to the ground slowly.

"Medli." I said.

"Go ahead."

"Are the Forest Rangers flying an aircraft above the city right now?"

"They… shouldn't be. No." She replied quizzically. "All flights are grounded at night. Even military, except for very rare exceptions."

"That's what I thought." I said. "Stay frosty, there's something in the sky."

I checked with several of the other SSC members, but nobody knew anything about an aircraft that was allowed to be flying tonight. I even called the real Nabooru while Impa called the Air Force, but Black Ops wasn't operating on Faron at the moment. Naturally, the Air Force wasn't flying anything either.

"Tell them to send out some interceptors. Give them my radio link." I said to Impa, keeping my eye on the aircraft as it approached the ground. I only had a few more minutes before I lost sight of it, so I took off at a dead run to the south

I relayed information to the Air Force as I ran, although I knew they would never get the interceptors there in time. Just as I thought I was about to lose sight of the blacked out aircraft, it veered north towards the city. It looked like it was going to land in the mostly-industrial southern sector, but I wasn't sure. I took a running jump and pulled myself onto the roof of a house to get a better view.

I lost sight of the aircraft when it was about five hundred meters from the ground, but it had been descending quickly. After sending my best guess as to where the aircraft landed to the Air Force, I got back down on the ground and took off at a full sprint. I figured the landing zone was just over a kilometer away, and I knew I could cover that in less than three minutes if I pushed myself.

Interestingly, I couldn't hear the sound of rotors or engines. I ran past several factories and into a deserted area of the city, only stopping once I saw activity. The blacked-out aircraft appeared to be a large helicopter with silent rotors. It had just dropped off around thirty passengers at an abandoned factory three hundred meters to my south. I recognized them instantly as Gerudo women, as they were wearing the same armor as the Eta Ali troops on Koholint Island.

I grabbed my radio and hurriedly reestablished contact with the Air Force.

"Interceptors disengage." I said. "I need a strike three hundred meters north of my location. The aircraft set down around thirty Eta Ali."

There was a pause as the air strike request went through the chain of command.

"Strike denied, it would cause too much damage to the surrounding area."

"Override. Queen's authority." I said, frustrated that they hadn't automatically done that. This kind of military bullshit was a waste of time, and the Air Force was notorious for it.

"Accepted. Strike incoming, reaction force mobilizing."

 _Good, they're sending in ground troops._

"Coordinates updating." I said, lazing the center of the group with my wrist tool as they walked towards the abandoned factory. "It looks like they're going in the abandoned building fifty meters west of the landing zone."

"Coordinates updated, artillery strike ETA two minutes. Strike bombers will follow. Take shelter, you're in danger-close range."

That was a relief. Artillery wouldn't take down the building, but it would do a good job of chasing the Gerudo inside so that they were in one place for the bombs.

It occurred to me that this could be a significant event once the media got a hold of it. So far, deadly contact with the Eta Ali had been limited to small-arms fire on the agents who hadn't been captured peacefully. An air strike on a building occupied by Eta Ali troops would be impossible to hide from the public, and would feed the propaganda machine.

 _It's too soon to worry about that._ I thought to myself, taking shelter in the ramp of an old loading dock. I kept lazing the coordinates to the Air Force until they came back on the radio.

"Shot. Five rounds of five high-explosive 120mm."

"Acknowledged." I said.

"Estimated thirty seconds of flight time."

I started counting, watching the group as they filed into the building. Only two Gerudo were left in the parking lot when the first shell hit. It blew out a wall and several windows. The sound hit me as the next four rounds fell.

"Direct hit." I said through the radio. "Fire for effect."

Continuous artillery rained down on the building, and I heard a swarm of voices yelling from the inside. Lights flashed through the windows, and several Gerudo ran out through the door I could see. They were headed directly towards me, but still had plenty of parking lot to cover.

"Air strike ETA one minute." I heard through the radio.

"Double artillery fire." I said. "Spread the cone of impact out to one hundred fifty meters around the building to catch runners."

"Acknowledged. Take shelter."

The rounds immediately started impacting further away from the building as they were redirected in midair, sending the running Gerudo scurrying backwards. Now that I saw how many lights were flashing around inside the building, I realized there were dozens of Eta Ali inside. This helicopter wasn't the first one that had dropped off troops here.

I called Impa. It was impossible to hear her voice over the sound of the exploding shells, so I just shouted into the microphone.

"They've got a ton of troops in this factory. They could be landing elsewhere to stage for an attack."

I cut the line, trusting that she would handle it. I could only take care of what was in front of me, after all.

A few brave Gerudo made it through the wall of artillery and were still running directly towards me, so I drew my handgun and waited. The loading dock I was hiding in was part of a funnel created by two large factories on my left and right, so I knew they would be running through here. My experience with the quality of their armor was limited, but my rifle had been able to shatter it, so I trusted my handgun to at least put them down.

I had three targets, and none of them seemed to suspect me. The first ran past the loading dock, but I let her keep going. As the second and third Gerudo passed, I shot them both in the head and turned to put a few rounds in the fastest runner. All three dropped like rocks.

The artillery volume doubled as I took cover again, in response to my request just over thirty seconds beforehand. The Gerudo were starting to pour out of the building now, ready to take their chances with open ground to get out of the main blast zone.

Five Army gunships screamed overhead, lighting up the open parking lot around the abandoned factory as they passed. Three bombers followed them, which was my cue to get behind serious cover. I dropped down into the loading dock, covered my ears, and opened my mouth so the pressure created by the exploding bombs wouldn't pulverize my lungs.

The flash lit up the sky half a second before I heard the explosions. Judging by impact, the bombs were powerful enough to level the factory. Each bomber had dropped two bombs, but I waited for twenty seconds after the last blast to be safe. When I heard the gunships flying back in, I peeked above the ledge of the loading dock.

The factory was completely ruined. One side of it had been reduced to molten metal, and the rest was collapsed. None of the Gerudo seemed to have survived, and the gunships were landing to take care of any who were faking. I checked the two Gerudo that I had shot just in front of the loading dock and found them to be quite dead. As I approached the third one, though, I realized she was still alive. She had left a smeared line of blood on the ground as she crawled behind a wall of the factory for cover. Her rifle was lying on the ground where she had fallen.

I stormed around the corner of the building, catching her halfway through drawing her handgun. I kicked her hand, sending the weapon skittering across the concrete.

"You stay put." I said, realizing I could barely hear my own voice.

The Gerudo muttered something, but I couldn't understand her. I pulled my handcuffs from my weapons belt and locked her wrists together behind her back. There were three bullet holes in her back, but no exit wounds. It looked like I had hit her spine twice, which explained why she hadn't been able to do more than crawl. I was surprised she had survived this long.

I switched my radio channel back to the SSC's line so I could speak with Impa easily.

"One Gerudo captured in critical condition. Factory destroyed, no signs of life inside."

"Go verify before the Army starts trampling over everything." Impa said.

I retrieved the Gerudo's weapons and grabbed her by a crease in her armor. It took a minute to drag her to the Army Rangers forming a perimeter around the leveled factory, but eventually I got within their visual range.

"Stop there!"

Several of them broke from the line and surrounded me.

"What are you doing here?" The one in front of me demanded.

"Sergeant White of the Special Services Corps. This is a POW that needs immediate medical attention."

"What the hell is the Special Services Corps?"

I sighed.

"I'm one of the Queen's guards." I replied. "Check my biometrics if you don't believe me."

The Gerudo, who had otherwise been completely silent and passive since I disarmed her, let out a gurgling laugh.

"So you're the one." She rasped out.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Suddenly the Rangers weren't interested in me.

"You may have gotten the jump on us, but _he_ was in that building. There isn't a bomb or bullet in existence that can kill him." The Gerudo continued.

"Who?" I demanded.

She only laughed, coughing with the effort. I dropped her to the concrete face-down and stuck my finger in one of the bullet holes in her upper back. She screamed as I dug down beneath her skin.

"You want to tell me what the fuck you're talking about now?" I asked.

I didn't get a chance to hear her response, if there was one. The crushed debris of the factory began groaning and shifting, sending pieces sliding to the side of the pile. I turned my attention away from the Gerudo and drew my handgun.

"We're being ordered towards the factory!" One of the Rangers called to the others.

The Ranger who had first spoken looked over and pointed at the Gerudo.

"You take care of her. She's your problem."

With that, they ran towards the ruined factory. I could see several other squads breaking apart from the perimeter and moving in. I used another pair of handcuffs to lock the Gerudo to the railing of the helicopter, and then set up inside it with my newly acquired rifle.

The rubble shifted again, and this time I heard a guttural roar from underneath it. The rangers rushing forward all paused, slowing to a stop at the sound. I grabbed my radio.

"Impa, I think there's something big here. I need help."

"I'll send Medli since she's close by. Keep me updated."

There was another roar from the rubble, and a piece of the roof was flung into the air. It landed with a crash near a squad of rangers. Another piece was thrown away, and then I felt a wave of dark energy.

 _Oh my goddesses, this can't be real._

I knew that energy. It was derived from the same curse I had borne for most of my life, and had been transferred to Richard when I drew the Master Sword for the first time.

"We need everyone here." I said into the radio. "It's Richard and the curse. He's here."

The pieces of the factory were blown apart by a wave of magical energy, creating a cloud of dust that began glowing red. Thousands of spheres of red energy formed above the area, and I realized what was about to happen only a second before it did. I didn't even have time to shout.

The energy rained down on the rangers like spears of light, impaling them and burning their bodies from the inside out. The perimeter fared no better as another round of projectiles blasted through man and machine alike. I ducked behind the helicopter as it was struck, feeling the sizzling heat of one of the balls of energy as it cooked the cockpit and the pilot inside. In an instant, the captured Gerudo was forgotten.

I started running, dodging spheres of energy with an inhuman speed fueled by my bio augmentation and an adrenaline overload. I needed to get far away, but I knew I wouldn't make it. There was no way I could keep dodging all these projectiles.

Something stirred deep within me, and I felt the current of energy that I had never been able to grasp before. Some primal urge forced it out, and the Triforce on the back of my right hand glowed with a bright green intensity. I stopped and turned, planting my feet. A red sphere of energy sped towards me, but I deflected it effortlessly.

For a moment, I thought I had figured out how to activate my power. I could only use it when my life was in imminent danger.

I deflected a few more blasts, and suddenly the spheres disappeared. All the Rangers were dead, but I couldn't focus on that now. The magical aura shifted, increasing the surrounding pressure and nearly forcing me to my knees.

I reacted by experimenting with my own aura, allowing the magic of the Triforce to flow outwards and push against the dark magic of Demise's curse. It helped relieve the pressure, so I took off at a run towards the ruined factory.

The dust had settled slightly, and I could see two glowing red eyes in the cloud. The red energy gathered into a single point in front of the dark outline, and then blasted towards me. I used the power of the Triforce to deflect it, melting a hole in the concrete to my right.

I noticed that the aura around me was glowing green, but the rest of the surrounding area had turned red. The dark outline threw aside the remainder of the rubble and stepped out of the dust.

The glowing red eyes were connected to a monster the likes of which I had never seen. It was three times my height, and had arms as thick as my torso. It was covered in thick steel armor that didn't look the slightest bit affected by the artillery and bombs that had been rained down on the factory. Its pitch-black skin peeled back, displaying a hair-raising grin. It held a sword as big as a full-grown adult.

On the back of its hand, the mark of the Triforce glowed bright red.

I drew the Master Sword, instantly feeling a connection between it and the power of the Triforce. I knew what I needed to do.

"What are you doing, Richard?" I asked. I could sense his presence underneath the abomination that was before me.

"You…" It growled, hefting its sword.

"What are you doing?" I asked again, releasing energy into the Master Sword. It glowed green, casting a beam of light through Richard's red aura.

"Do you like it?" Richard asked. "My master made improvements so that I can wield this power."

"That power is evil." I said, controlling my voice so that it didn't shake.

"Power is power. You were just too weak to use it."

"Power isn't everything." I said. "You gave up everything to use it, including Zelda. Look at what you've become."

"I have become perfection. Soon I will tear this Empire apart with my own hands and prepare it for the arrival of my master."

"Who is your master?" I asked, scowling.

"You will know him. He has a great interest in you, should you manage to survive until he is resurrected. I don't plan on allowing that."

My radio crackled, briefly distracting me. It was Impa.

"Link, Medli can't come any closer because of the aura being emitted. It will kill her. I'm coming to help. Survive for three minutes."

I ignored the radio. For now, I was on my own. There wasn't anyone to get in my way.

"I'll be stopping you." I said, holding the Master Sword out in front of me.

"How do you plan to do that when you haven't even realized your true potential?" Richard asked, sneering.

I was well aware of the difference in our magical strength already, which meant that I had to finish this fight quickly. Even the energy required to fight back Richard's aura was taking its toll on me. I felt like I was lifting a weight that got progressively heavier over time. Soon enough, I wouldn't be able to bear it anymore.

I charged towards Richard, sending my cloak billowing out behind me. He fired a beam of energy at me again, and I deflected it with the Master Sword. When I reached him, I ducked under his sword and slid between his legs, hacking at the exposed hamstring above his armor.

Richard howled in pain, turning to slash at me. His sword whipped around with blinding speed, and I barely got mine up in time to block it. The impact would have killed me if I hadn't used more of the Triforce's energy to help me withstand it. I was sent flying back into the rubble of the factory, but I quickly regained my footing and charged again.

This time I acted as if I would slide again, but jumped over Richard's sword when he swung it and struck at his arm. He raised his left arm, using his armor to absorb the hit and knock me aside. Undeterred, I rolled and sprung up again, managing to slice open one of his fingers as I did so.

I ducked around three more slashes before Richard made contact again. Once again, I managed to block the slash with the Master Sword, but suffered significant air time and a hard impact with concrete as a result.

 _Faster. I need to be faster._

I got up again and ducked to the side. Richard had charged me, but had overcommitted to his swing. I ducked past his arm and ended up behind him, and then jumped up towards his head.

 _I've got you now!_

I swung the Master Sword around, aiming for his neck and putting enough force behind it to sever his head with a single blow.

Suddenly, the power of the red aura increased. My body felt frozen, and I dropped to the ground like a rock. I tried desperately to use the energy of the Triforce to press my aura back, but it was like squeezing a dry lemon. I was out of energy, and Richard seemed to have plenty to spare.

 _How?_ I thought, suddenly realizing I was powerless. It was all I could do to keep breathing through the tremendous pressure.

Richard turned and picked me up by the collar, holding me in the air and pressing the edge of his sword to my neck. I struggled to move, but my body felt like it was trapped inside an impenetrable barrier. The Master Sword dropped out of my hand and clattered to the ground.

"You are weak." Richard said, twisting his mouth into an abominable grin.

"Go fuck yourself." I spat out, barely able to speak through the tremendous pressure.

"Have I told you how I plan to treat Queen Zelda and her… delectable body?" Richard asked, ignoring my unimaginative insult. "My master said I can do whatever I want with her, so long as she is alive when he returns. I think I'll start by stripping her down and chaining her to a bed."

He growled, displaying a sick, primal pleasure at the thought.

"I'll fuck her like that. Chained up, unable to move. It will never stop, until she loses every ounce of her pride and grovels before me, begging for mercy. And then I'll keep going until she's driven mad. She will stay like that until the day my master kills her. No better than a whore on the streets."

I could only curl my upper lip back in fury. The effort required to speak was too much.

"I'll keep your head in her room as a reminder of her failures."

Somehow, his disgusting intentions gave me a final burst of energy. I threw everything I had into a magical attack, which blasted Richard's face with green energy, causing him to roar and drop me. I flopped on the ground like a fish and rolled towards the Master Sword.

Richard dove towards me, swinging his sword in a downward arc to cut me in half. Just as I swung the Master Sword up to defend myself, he was hit in the face by another bolt of magic. This magic was black, but didn't feel like dark energy. It sent him staggering backwards, where he tripped and fell into the rubble of the factory.

 _Impa!_

I struggled to my feet, feeling Richard's aura wane slightly as his concentration slipped. Impa was behind me less than a second later, enveloping me in her shadowy aura and holding onto my arm.

"We must retreat! We cannot beat him as we are now!"

I didn't argue. Any further heroics on my part would only lead to my death. Impa fired a few more bolts of energy into Richard as he struggled to his feet, and then we took off at a dead sprint. My legs failed me several times, forcing Impa to nearly drag me across the open parking lot. I nearly tripped again on the bodies of the Rangers as we passed the perimeter that had been formed and slipped behind a nearby warehouse.

Richard roared in frustration behind us, but made no attempt to follow.

"Zelda!" I wheezed out as we ran. "She needs to leave the planet!"

"Already done, Malon is flying her out now." Impa said. "The Eta Ali had cells like that all over the city. Once we bombed the factory, they swarmed the city and took control."

I groaned.

"How did they pull that off without anyone noticing?"

Impa shook her head.

"I don't know. Keep running, we need to catch a ride out of here."

…

The next two hours passed in a blur. We stole a car and slipped through the newly forming blockades of Eta Ali troops. There was a hole in the coverage because of the several hundred Gerudo killed in the factory, which allowed us to reach Sanctuary and, from there, the spaceport. The ships were surrounded by refugees from Lanayru trying to escape the planet, but I managed to find a Forest Ranger spacecraft repair shop and take a small jump craft from there.

I didn't dare to think of sleeping until Impa flew us out of the atmosphere and away from Faron. The smoke from the destruction of the factory could be seen from the exosphere, and there was more coming from the center of Lanayru. The military wasn't giving up the capital without a fight.

Impa tapped in a few coordinates to the jump panel and sent the ship into hyperspace. When I looked at the destination, though, I was surprised.

"Where are we going?" I asked. I didn't recognize the coordinates.

"I told you I needed to find a real mage to teach you how to use the Triforce. We're going now."

"Impa, I'm needed to guard Z-"

"You are not." She said, stopping me. "What you need to do is learn to use your power effectively, and you cannot do that without being corrupted by it or spending time training your mind and body to manipulate it. Until you do that, I cannot use you. The fate of Hyrule rests on your shoulders, and right now you can't even defeat the twisted minion of Demise's curse."

I sighed and sat down, knowing she was right. I would have died without her intervention.

"Link, I cannot defeat Richard. Much less Demise or whatever foul abomination his curse has manifested itself in this time. Only you can do that, so I need you to become the most powerful being that this galaxy has ever seen. There is but one way."

"Where are we going?" I asked again.

She glanced over at me and sighed.

"I'm taking you to the Gauntlet."

…

It took four days to reach the coordinates Impa had entered, since we could only take a travel route about half of the way. The rest of the time was spent in mind-numbing concentration as I tried to reach for the power of the Triforce again. I thought that I would be able to use it since I had done so in my fight against Richard, but that didn't prove to be true. It was proving to be just as elusive as ever.

We got news that Malon, Zelda, and the rest of the SSC had reached safety on Castle just as we were about to exit the travel route to the outer colonies. Arnav Nohansen and Shilia, the Eta Ali prisoner, had been taken off Faron, as well. This took a load off my shoulders, and I was able to focus slightly better afterwards. I took hold of the Triforce's energy on one attempt before reaching our destination.

The jump ship dropped out of FTL travel with a jolt, waking me from my much-needed sleep. Impa was already up, standing in the cockpit and staring out the front window.

I didn't ask any questions. I could only stare in amazement.

This particular solar system had three stars, two of which were locked in close orbit with each other and another that orbited around the two. The Gauntlet, as I presumed it was, was a moon surrounded by a uniformly black barrier. It orbited around a blue gas giant.

"We're landing on that?" I asked curiously.

"No, we are not." Impa said. "I suppose it's time I tell you about it in more detail. This is quite… irregular. More specifically, _you_ will be irregular when you enter the Gauntlet. Have you ever met a Hylian battlemage?"

"Yes, once." I said, thinking back to when a mysterious woman had saved me from a Collective air strike. I hadn't realized what she was until nearly a year after the event, and I had never had the chance to thank her. Hylian battlemages were as elusive and mysterious as Black Ops, if not more so. Zelda handled both groups similarly, which meant she never interfered with their activities and barely even talked about them.

"Children with the highest magical aptitude at age six are taken from their families and trained until the age of eighteen, at which point they are thrown into the trials of the Gauntlet. Those who survive become Hylian battlemages."

"So you're throwing me into the Gauntlet to unlock my power?" I asked. "Won't I stand out in a crowd of teenagers?"

"Not if you're careful." Impa replied. "You must protect your identity, though. The people here compete with each other, and death is a very real possibility. If they find out that you are an Outlier, as they are called here, you will be targeted."

"An Outlier?" I asked.

"One who enters the Gauntlet through abnormal means, such as you are about to do."

I looked down at the black moon, pondering what I was about to go through.

"This is necessary to be able to defeat Richard and whoever his master is?" I asked.

"Absolutely. You will die and Hyrule will fall if you fail at this task."

I sighed.

"How long does it take?"

"It depends on a great many factors, but I will only be waiting a few minutes for you to return." Impa said.

"A… few minutes?"

"Time flows differently on the Gauntlet. Once you cross that barrier, the outside world nearly stops. You will observe events normally, but your body will not age and time will not pass outside. This is set up so that Hyrule gets as much time as possible from a battlemage in his or her prime years once training is complete. It… takes a while to run the Gauntlet."

"How long will it take me?" I asked.

Impa paused, showing a rare flash of human emotion.

"It takes the average battlemage eight years to finish."

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't find words to express my reaction. That was such a shocking revelation, I couldn't imagine what to say.

"I… but…"

"Link, I understand that I'm asking you to separate from everything for what will feel like eight years, but you must do this. Based on what I've seen, you are the only person who can defeat the Eta Ali, but only if you are properly trained."

"You're asking me to drop down to some mysterious planet on your word that it will be good for me. In doing so, I'm separating from my wife for _eight_ years. I know that seems like a paltry amount of time to you, who claims to have reincarnated several hundred times throughout history, but I'm only twenty-four. By the time I get out of there, I'll have spent what feels like a quarter of my life away from Malon.

"Malon will die." Impa said quietly. "Zelda will die. I will die. You will die. If you cannot defeat that heinous creature that Richard has become and stop the reincarnation of Demise's curse, billions will die. You will not have a family to return to. Everyone you have ever known will be enslaved or killed."

I turned back to the window, staring at the Gauntlet. I knew she was right, but I wished she had told me this before we had arrived.

 _No, she did the right thing. I would never have agreed to this, and she wouldn't have been able to get me here._

Trusting Impa had never failed me in the past, but this was a massive leap of faith. I took out a picture of Malon I had folded in a protective case in my pocket and stared at it for a few moments.

"You understand what you're asking me to do." I said.

"I do."

I sighed.

"She won't even notice that I was gone?"

"As long as you survive, you will return to this ship almost the instant you pass through the barrier. I will see you disappear, and then you will appear in here again."

"How do I get down there?"

"You will put on a space suit and jump. Once you fall past the barrier, your trial will begin."

I continued staring at the black moon for a few more moments, and then made a decision. I folded Malon's picture up and put it back in my pocket.

"Leave your handgun with me. You will not need it" Impa said. "Just take your sword."

I took all of my weapons off my belt and dropped them to the floor, save for the Master Sword. It took only a few minutes to suit up in the space suit. Once I had done that, and I walked over to the door. A protective energy barrier formed in front of it, which would allow the door to open without venting the atmosphere.

"I don't need a parachute?" I asked.

"Once you pass the barrier, you will appear at the beginning of the Gauntlet unharmed." Impa said.

She walked up to me and grasped my arm, lifting me easily and pressing me against the door.

"Return to us, Link. Guard your identity as an outlier, and select your allies carefully. The fate of this new war hangs in the balance."

She pressed the button to open the door, and then threw me from the ship. I drifted away from it slowly, descending towards the moon as I lost my acceleration.

 _Why did I agree to this? What am I doing?_

It was too late for regret, though. Within several minutes, I had lost velocity and found myself hurtling towards the black barrier surrounding the Gauntlet. I rolled over and stared at the gas giant as I fell, transfixed by its size and beauty. The rising mass of the Gauntlet eventually blocked my view, and I turned to face it a few seconds before impact.

The world went blank as I passed through the barrier.

…

 **There it is. Don't forget to review, and stay tuned to learn more about the Gauntlet.**


	20. Pt 2 Ch 5 - The Continent of Tests 1

**I'm going to focus a lot more on character development within the Gauntlet. Call it my own personal gauntlet, because I know that's something I struggle with. I appreciate all of you who read and review. I'm planning on using this as a basis for a novel (epic, I guess, since it's longer than 110,000 words) once I'm done. Your reviews, whether positive or negative, help shape this story and my writing.**

Part 2 Chapter 5

The Gauntlet

 _The Continent of Tests_

I woke in a strange place. My space suit was off, and I was lying in soft grass with a blue sky over my head. The three suns shone brightly to my right, and the blue gas giant peeked over the horizon to my left. I jumped to my feet quickly, nearly tripping on the hem of my cloak.

 _What's this now?_

I had appeared in front of a wall that stretched from horizon to horizon, perfectly straight and too tall to see over. Before me was a stone gate with a red inscription painted at eye level.

 _The Gauntlet's Continent of Tests begins past this gate  
Outlier, whether you bring peace  
Or chaos  
Matters not  
Enter the Gauntlet now  
And face your destiny_

"That's sort of a weird inscription," I muttered to myself.

With a jolt, I remembered my picture of Malon and tore into my pocket making sure it was still there. Much to my relief, it was. It was all I had until I finished the Gauntlet or died, and would serve as my reminder of where I came from.

I walked up to the gate and peered at it curiously, finally giving it a small push.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I turned to the sound of the voice, startled when the light changed and I found myself in a different place.

 _When did I…_

I was now indoors in some sort of cave, although it was strangely cool and well-lit. A gentle breeze blew through the room, lifting my hood off my bald head. I pulled it down and looked at the person in front of me, who was standing in the middle of a crowd of people. He had snow-white hair and pale skin, with bright blue eyes that brimmed with energy. His body was scrawny, and he looked young.

As I looked around, I noticed that all the people in here were, in fact, in their late teens. They were also all scrawny, making me stick out like a sore thumb.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?"

I looked back to the white-haired kid. He spoke with a strange accent I had never heard.

"I…" I started, not sure what to say. "I'm not sure."

"You look like you're about to throw up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "What's going on? I just got here."

He stared at me, his mouth open slightly as a dumbfounded expression crossed his face.

"You just got here…? We've been here for two days. Who are you, anyways? I've never seen you before."

I started to make up a name, but I realized my real name wouldn't be a danger to me here.

"I'm Link White."

"Linkwhite? Is that a… no, you're not an Elite."

"No, Link White," I said, seeing that even my name was above this guy's head. "Who are you?"

"Riari. Why do you have two names?"

 _Goddesses, this guy is full of questions._

"Just call me Link," I said, sighing.

"Okay, that's easier. I've never a non-Elite with two names before. What's that thing on your belt?"

I looked down at the Master Sword, which was the only thing visible on my belt.

"You've never seen a sword?" I asked quizzically.

Riari paused, and then his eyes flashed in excitement.

"Is that what that is?!"

A string of questions followed, but I didn't pay attention. This kid was annoying me. I looked around the room again, taking in the smaller details I had missed during my initial observation. For the most part, it looked like the teenagers in this room were as diverse as any group of Hylians. There were no Gorons, as they generally couldn't use magic, but every other race was represented. I could feel the magical aura radiating off of each person.

At the front of the room was a strangely normal man standing on an elevated platform. He was middle-aged, with gray hair and gray eyes that seemed to bore holes in everything he looked at. As if on cue, he raised his hands when I looked at him. Silence immediately blanketed the nervous chatter.

"Candidates, the last of you has arrived. We will begin the first exam momentarily. Please stay where you are."

His voice was smooth, and carried with it a certain tone that put me on edge. His eyes glinted as they passed over me several times, sending chills down my spine.

 _Malicious intent._

"I am Heathrow, your administrator for the Continent of Tests," The strange man said, his hair shimmering in the half light. "If you will all go out the doors behind me, we can begin your first test."

Several doors opened behind the platform, breaking up the darkness with clean sunlight. The people around me started pushing forward, scrambling to get out of the crowded room. I hung back while they filed out.

"Aren't you going?" Riari asked. I hadn't noticed that he was still there.

 _Why is he so persistent? Just leave me alone._

"Yeah, I'll go in a minute." I said. "Go ahead."

"Oh, I'm fine." Riari said, grinning. "They're all rushing out thinking they can get a head start on whatever the test is. I know I'll pass it."

"What happens if we fail?" I asked, staring past Riari at the administrator.

"Uh… We die? Did you not pay attention during training?"

"Nah, I'm a bad listener." I replied. The crowd had mostly moved past me now, so I followed it behind the platform and waited for the bottleneck at the doors to clear up.

"That's a new level of bad listening." Riari said. "Where did you train, anyways?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"One can't help but wonder. You're about six inches taller than everyone here and the biggest dude I've ever seen."

I really wasn't that big compared to the average Hylian soldier, but I was certainly more bulky than everyone else who had been in this room. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to respond to Riari even if I wanted to. Impa had told me to guard my identity as an Outlier.

"So what's going on outside?" I asked curiously, hoping to distract Riari from his line of questioning. It worked.

"I'm not really sure. The test could be anything, we just have to do what they say."

"Simple enough." I said.

I passed through the door and into a field. Wherever the gate I had initially appeared at was, it was a long ways from here. We had entered a grassy plain significantly further north of that location, judging by the positioning of the stars and the much more visible gas giant above the Gauntlet.

It had always been disconcerting to me to be on the moon of a planet, no matter where it was. I felt certain that the black barrier around the atmosphere was primarily a radiation shield. That meant that should it leak, all life on this moon would abruptly cease to exist. It likely had never had the appropriate measures to support life until the magicians got a hold of it. Even then, there were any number of events that could happen to upset the tentative balance created by converting a piece of floating rock into a habitable place.

 _Just don't happen while I'm here._ I prayed, but shook my head to get rid of the thought. I didn't want to come to grips with how long I was going to be away from Malon, yet.

The several-hundred examinees were milling around the plain, and I realized that the building had disappeared from behind us. Then, in a flash, the terrain changed. I was now standing alone on top of a large hill looking down at a valley. A canyon lay adjacent to me, and a river was on my right. To my left was just an empty plain.

 _So this is the magic the battlemages are capable of._

"Candidates, if you will listen please." Heathrow's voice came from nowhere. "That is, after all, what you are. From now until you die or make it to the blimp at the end of the trials, you will be D-Rank candidates."

At least he didn't beat around the bush. The possibility of dying was very real here.

"The first test will begin now. There are… 501 candidates in a three square kilometer area centered on the big hill."

I looked down, realizing that I had been placed dead-center in the testing ground.

"Once there are 300 candidates left, we will proceed with the next test. There is no time limit, and any means of removing other candidates is authorized. Lastly, if anyone kills the Outlier among the group, that individual will be exempted from the rest of the Continent of Tests and allowed to move on to the Continent of Endurance immediately."

 _What the fuck?!_

"Good luck, candidates. The test begins now."

I immediately dropped to the grass and covered myself with my cloak. I had been standing on top of the hill, which meant that anyone who had bothered to look had seen me. These kids were supposedly good with magic, which meant that I was at a disadvantage if I was found. Fortunately, I was particularly good at not getting found.

An explosion sent a pressure wave away from the canyon, and a bell tolled in the distance.

 _One down,_ I presumed.

The reality of the situation immediately sent my mind into combat mode, and I focused on everything around me in a form of hyper-reality. Time slowed down, allowing me to think clearly.

I crawled off the hill slowly, careful to keep my head below the top level of the grass and not disturb the stalks too much. Someone ran by ten meters away, paused to look around, and then continued on. After fifteen minutes and several more bell tolls, I reached a small outcropping of rock a quarter of the way down the hill and laid behind it. I was fully covered with my cloak, with only my eyes peeking out of the hood.

I had no intention of getting involved in a fight unless I needed to. I had certainly killed Collective soldiers younger than eighteen, but it didn't sit right with me. Besides, I only had to survive. There was no reason to actually go kill people when the other candidates would be doing that anyways.

A wave of 48 deaths happened in the first hour of the test while I waited patiently, but the chaos slowed down eventually. I didn't move a muscle the whole time, causing five candidates to miss me as they ran by. Only one looked anything but terrified.

I began to give thought to how I would defend myself if I were found. When I reached for it, I found that the power of the Triforce was readily accessible, which was a godsend. I would have to use magic either to get close to an adversary and finish the job with the Master Sword, or simply use the Triforce and overwhelm them.

I didn't actually know if I could use the Triforce very effectively. I hadn't lasted long against Richard on Faron, and I didn't know how powerful these teenagers were.

The second hour was quiet. It seemed the worst of the fighting had died down and people were taking a moment to rest. My senses were still on edge, though, and I knew better than to relax. The bell tolled 12 times in that hour.

 _We still have 141 left that have to die before we can move on. We're barely over a quarter done._

A rustle in the grass nearby startled me, but I didn't move. My cloak would conceal me unless someone stepped on me, and even then it would give me a fighting chance.

I nearly jumped out of my own skin when someone jumped over the top of the rock outcropping and landed next to me. I held absolutely still, glancing over at him and realizing it was Riari. I almost said something, but thought better of it.

"Where are you, asshole?"

Riari was breathing heavily, but obviously trying to keep quiet. Multiple people were roaming around the area looking for him.

 _So they've formed teams in the past two hours and they're hunting him?_

It sure looked that way. I almost felt bad for him, but there was nothing I could do.

A girl peeked over the top of the rocks, her eyes going wide when she saw Riari's white hair. Her mouth opened halfway to shout, but he gathered a ball of blue energy above his right hand and blasted it through her face.

A bell tolled in the distance.

"He's over there! He killed Michelle!"

"That piece of shit, let me at him!"

Riari took off running, but got tripped up trying to dodge several balls of red energy. Just as he tried to get up, one hit him square in the back, sending blue energy flying in every direction. It appeared Riari had survived the impact somehow, but couldn't get moving fast enough. Three males and one female tackled him to the ground and wrestled him into submission.

The biggest of the three boys stepped back, and the other two picked Riari up by his shoulders.

"You killed three of my friends!" The biggest one yelled.

Riari bared his teeth, snarling at the group, which earned him several hard hits in the gut and face. He coughed up blood, and then glowered at the boys in front of him.

"That's because they were weak and tried to pick a fight with me."

"Shut the fuck up."

The girl stepped forward and punched Riari in the face, augmenting her strength with magic.

"Why don't we just burn him alive?" She asked, her hand lighting on fire.

The humanitarian side of me twitched, and I sighed to myself. I didn't know Riari at all, but he was the only acquaintance I had here. Plus, I didn't like unfair fights unless I was the one with the odds stacked in my favor. I wanted the underdog to win in this instance, but I didn't know exactly what I could do to help.

I had to help, though. I would regret it if I didn't.

The group was entirely focused on Riari, so I risked the movement required to draw the Master Sword. It went unnoticed, allowing me to move into a crouching position and crawl towards the biggest boy, who had his back turned towards me. He was punching Riari again.

I grimaced when I heard a rib crack.

 _Here we go._

Three meters away from him, I leapt from the tall grass and drove the Master Sword through the spine of the leader. The tip of the blade speared his heart and protruded out the front of his chest, killing him before he hit the ground.

I didn't waste time, yanking the Master Sword out and cutting down one of the two boys holding Riari as he looked on in shock. Riari broke free and turned on the girl, sending several bolts of lightning towards her. The remaining boy desperately tried to create distance while flinging fire at me, but he was sloppy and careless. I killed him in less than three seconds, just as the girl slumped to the ground.

Four more tolls of the bell. I turned to Riari and stared at him, realizing that I must have been quite the sight. My cloak and sword were both dripping with blood.

"Are you going to kill me, or did you come to help?" Riari asked.

"I don't like it when people gang up on others," I said, shrugging.

Riari grimaced and clutched at his broken rib.

"I don't think I can do much to defend myself right now, so I'll take you at your word." He said, and then looked up at me. "I didn't take you to be that… efficient. You fight like an Elite."

"I've had some training," I replied. "Let's get to cover."

Riari looked down at his injury and shook his head.

"I don't think I'll make it very far."

I wiped my blade and sheathed it, then wrapped his arm over my shoulder and helped him to the rock outcropping. He sat down slowly, groaning with the pain in his ribs.

"You know you just killed three members of the She-Hau Family in a span of a few seconds, right?" He asked once he caught his breath.

"The what?"

"That's why they were after me." Riari said. "I killed one of them when they attacked me earlier, so they've been hunting me. I'm pretty good, but not good enough to take on all of them at once."

"She-Hau?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, the fire family." Riari said, glancing over at me. "You do know that, right?"

"Ah, yeah." I said awkwardly. "Just the combat messing with my head."

Riari stared at me for a few more seconds, and then shrugged.

"You don't have to answer my questions, I guess. We all have secrets. But anyways, the She-Hau are generally aggressive towards the Ioni. That's my family, which is why they singled me out and chased me halfway across this place. Sometimes our family arguments turn violent during training like this."

I climbed up the rocks and peeked around, ignoring the dead body that had belonged to Michelle only moments prior. It didn't appear that anyone was coming to investigate the source of the noise, so I climbed back down.

"Let me see that." I said, gesturing towards Riari's ribs.

"What are you going to do?" He asked.

"Just let me see the injury."

He groaned and lifted his shirt. The left side of his ribcage was badly bruised, and the broken rib was swollen. I reached out for the power of the Triforce and, feeling it, put my hand over the rib. The air around us glowed green, and Riari's eyes went wide.

"What are you…"

I released a little energy, not knowing exactly what I was doing but somehow knowing how to heal the injury. This felt like what the Triforce was made to be used for. The power of the goddesses was supposed to help people, after all. Somehow I managed to warp the magic around Riari's rib and move it back into place. Filling in the fracture didn't take long.

When I was done, I slumped back against the rock and breathed deeply. Healing him had taken quite a bit of my energy.

"Did you…" Riari asked, poking at his ribs in disbelief.

"Yes, I healed it. Don't ask me how, because I have no idea."

"You didn't use any energy," He said, peering at me curiously. "How did you not use energy?"

"Can't you see that I used a lot of my own energy for this?"

Riari looked dumbfounded.

"You used your internal energy to heal me?!"

"Keep your voice down," I growled. "Yes, what's so strange about that?"

"I… I've never known anyone that has enough internal energy to do something like that."

"Now you do. What are you planning on doing next?" I asked.

Riari shrugged.

"I guess we should team up, since most of the others have by this point. Do you always fight with your sword?"

"I guess, yeah," I said. "I can use a little magic."

"Do you only use internal energy?"

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I shrugged.

"Gods above, you don't know very much about magic, do you? How did you even end up here?"

"Too many questions," I said. "What are you going to do?"

"Well I suppose we could just sit here and wait. Or we could move and risk running into a group."

"Are the Elites all traveling in packs like that?" I asked.

Riari nodded.

"Where's your family? Why aren't you with them?"

He looked away awkwardly.

"I'm kind of an outcast. I… Well, they don't like me. At least not the candidates here."

"Should I bother asking why?"

Riari shook his head.

"Let's survive this, and then I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."

The suns were setting by this point, leaving the Gauntlet in the eerie blue light of the gas giant and the distant third sun. As semi-darkness rushed across the plains, Heathrow's voice came through my head again.

"Candidates, the test will now be placed on hold for the night. No fighting is allowed until the next announcement at sunrise. Currently, 407 candidates are left in fighting condition on the battlefield. Any candidates who break the rules will be eliminated. Good night."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was unexpected," Riari said, standing up and stretching his arms out carefully.

I had no intention of getting too relaxed. This was a nice break, but I didn't trust that I was entirely safe and had no intention of letting my guard down.

"How do your ribs feel?"

"Like hell," He replied, "but I can move my arms freely. I guess they're just bruised."

I nodded and started clearing a small area of grass with the Master Sword. In several minutes I had a thick bed of stalks built up. I took off my cloak and started scrubbing the blood with water from one of my canteens. It occurred to me that I hadn't gotten very thirsty in the past few hours, and even now I didn't feel any urge to drink. I looked over at Riari and realized he was staring at me in fascination.

"What now?" I asked.

"I've never seen anyone with arms that big."

I shook my head and continued scrubbing my clothing to remove the drying blood.

"I'll answer your questions if you tell me a few things," I said, knowing I needed information during this precious downtime.

"Okay, go for it," Riari said. "I owe you that much."

"How were you prepared for this place? What kind of training did you go through?"

"Well, I'm an Ioni so I trained with my family until just a few weeks ago when I left to come to the Continent of Tests. All the Elites train with their respective families or the ruling family until the point where we become candidates at 100 years old. At that point, we're on our own until we pass the test or die."

I looked up at him in surprise, and then realized that years were drastically shorter on this moon than on Castle.

"What about the people outside the Elites?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. There's several different programs run by the Empire that bring in naturally talented candidates and train them, but the Elites don't associate with them until after they become Imperial Battlemages. Weren't you trained that way?"

"You could say that." I said. "Can you explain the Elite families to me?"

Riari nodded.

"They're the four elemental families for fire, earth, water, and wind. My family, Ioni, has complete dominance over the wind and weather. We're the light-skinned, white-haired people you'll see. Everyone in a family shares many of the same physical traits, whether by relation or magical change.

"Katav, or the earth clan, are the dark-skinned warriors that control the magic of the dirt and rock. They're generally pretty neutral when it comes to family feuds, and you won't see many of them. They're the smallest clan.

"The Dro clan controls water. I've actually never seen a Zora in the Gauntlet that isn't a Dro, and there doesn't exist a Dro that isn't a Zora. They're as peaceful as the Katavs, and tend to keep to themselves.

"The last of the clans is She-Hau, which I've already told you about. They control fire and represent unbridled energy. Ioni and She-Hau are eternal rivals, although it's never devolved into outright war. Most of them have red hair, so they're easy to pick out."

"And the ruling family?" I asked.

"The Gahar," Riari replied. "They're… well, none of them are related by blood. The strongest of the Ioni, Katav, Dro, and She-Hau are selected to join the Gahar and given the power to control all four elements. Their numbers are highly limited. I think the entire Gahar clan is only about 300 people and several dozen candidates at a time, but that group is probably as strong as the four families combined."

"Where do they all live?"

"There's seven continents on this moon." Riari said. "Six are dedicated to testing, and the last is residential. We only earn the right to go back there once we pass the trials. And even if we make it to that point, we'll spend the rest of our lives as Imperial Battlemages or, when we get too old for that, training the youngest members of the family."

"How many people make it through the Gauntlet?" I asked.

"It really just depends on the test administrators and the candidates. 500 candidates start the test every six months, and sometimes all of them die. Usually only fifteen to twenty Imperial Battlemages are commissioned from each group."

The washout rate was staggering, but it aligned with everything I knew about Imperial Battlemages. They were quite literally the best of the best. It also explained why there were so few of them in the force, and why I never heard anything about their existence or training until Impa brought me to the Gauntlet. In fact, even her knowledge had seemed spotty.

"You don't look alarmed by how few people make it through this," Riari said pointedly.

I shrugged.

"It's about deciding whether you're going to be part of the 485 who fail, or the fifteen who pass. I have no choice but to survive and become a battlemage."

Riari nodded, understanding.

"I'm going to finish this, too," He said. "I want to prove to my family that I'm worthy of being called an Ioni, despite how many people think I'll never make it."

"What happened that estranged you from them?" I asked.

"I think it's my turn to ask questions."

I shrugged. That wasn't overly important information for now.

"Go ahead. I won't guarantee I can answer all of your questions, but we'll see."

"Okay." Riari said. "How about telling me where you trained?"

"Ehhhhh I don't know about that." I said.

"Your age?"

"I don't know. Not in your scale of time, at least."

"Best guess?"

I took a few seconds to crunch ratios in my head. Impa had said that battlemages started training at eighteen, and Riari had said they started at 100.

"133 years old, I guess."

"You're that young? I thought you were older."

I glared at him for a few seconds, but he didn't seem to give his comment a second thought. I was well aware of the effect years of combat tours had had on my ageing process. The war with the Collective had likely taken a decade off my life.

"Okay, then what motivation do you have that makes you so confident about becoming a battlemage? Especially when you don't seem to know the first thing about how to use magic properly."

I paused, not sure if I should share any personal information with him. I still didn't know if I could trust this kid, but something about him made me feel like I could.

"My wife." I said finally.

"Your… wife?" Riari asked, surprised. "How do you have one of those?"

"Because I have game." I said, allowing a small grin to lift the corners of my mouth.

"No, but seriously. How were you able to maintain a relationship while being trained for the Gauntlet?"

"I'll let you find that out over time." I said, not willing to say any more. Riari sighed.

"Is she hot?"

"Absolutely. Do I look like I have low standards?"

"It looks like she does."

We both snickered, and I made a mental note to make him suffer for that statement later. We continued talking for a while longer, but Riari didn't delve too much into my personal information from that point onwards. Using healing magic had made me unexpectedly tired, so at a certain point I laid out on the grass bed I had made and resolved to get a few hours of sleep while we were safe.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day, after all.

…

I woke with a start at the sound of Heathrow's voice in my head.

"The second day of the test begins now. Candidates, continue your task from yesterday."

 _Shit, how did I sleep this long?!_

I bolted up, grabbing my cloak and shaking Riari from his slumber. Within minutes, combat started somewhere nearby. I could only imagine that several groups had moved throughout the night and gotten into position to ambush others. I had meant to wake up early and make sure that we weren't being caught up in a trap, but I would just have to fight my way out of it if that's what happened.

When we were safely concealed by the rock outcropping, I glanced over at Riari to make sure he wasn't displaying any indication of attacking me. He wasn't, which allowed me to shift my focus to other things, like the semi-dry blood dripping down the rocks.

"Maybe we should have moved the bodies," I said, grimacing.

Riari looked like he was about to vomit, so I looked around for a better spot to hide. There wasn't one.

"Was yesterday the first time you killed someone?" I asked.

Riari nodded. His face had turned from pale white to a sickly gray. He likely hadn't slept much after we finished talking.

"You get used to it," I said. "It doesn't get any easier, but you learn to control the way you think about it. Just focus on our plan to survive for now."

"Is there a _we_ in this?" Riari asked.

"I don't know. Is there?"

"Yeah, we stand a better chance if we stick together. You seem to be good at killing people once you get close, so I'll stay at a distance and do magical damage to try to herd them towards you."

That statement was ironic, to say the least, but all he had seen was me kill three Elites in a span of five seconds with a sword. If only I had a sniper rifle.

"You're not going to hit me with your magic, are you?" 

"I won't hit you."

I laid my head back against the rock and closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of battle in the distance and trying to detect anyone approaching. It was easier to reach out and detect the aura of others now that I had used the Triforce in combat. It took less concentration.

Thirty candidates were killed in the first few minutes of the morning, but we seemed to have avoided being attacked. Someone ran by, but he seemed content to leave us alone and I had no urge to kill him. Another group was fighting close by, resulting in several deaths and one very distraught girl screaming at the top of her lungs. I wasn't sure what kind of battle plan that was, but it didn't sound well thought out.

"It hardly seems worth it." I said quietly. "You go through years of training only to be killed in the first few hours of testing."

"It's necessary." Riari replied simply.

A rustle in the grass nearby caught me off guard. I hadn't detected a presence.

"Visitor." I said, drawing the Master Sword from its sheath.

Riari leapt into a defensive position, lightning crackling in the air around him, while I charged towards the noise I had heard. When I reached it, though, I paused and lowered my sword.

The only thing I found in the grass was a terrified-looking girl. Her hands were raised defensively, and she had several balls of magic swirling around her head.

"Get back!" She yelled, springing up from the grass. "I'll kill you."

I realized very quickly that this was the girl who had been screaming nearby.

"Be quiet," I said, sheathing my sword. "Or do you want to attract everyone within half a kilometer?"

"I told you to stay away!" She said, albeit slightly more muted this time.

"Link, be careful. She's a Child of Gahar," Riari said.

"Oh, the ruling family?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, we should…" He started, but then reversed course. "Actually, why are you hiding from us in the grass? You could have ambushed us if you wanted to."

"I…" The girl muttered. "I just didn't feel like it."

"You need help." I said, noticing her leg. She had jumped back awkwardly a second ago, and wasn't putting weight on it now.

"I… No I don't! I just didn't feel like killing you two."

"Put all that away," I said, gesturing at the magic floating around her head, "and come over here. I can treat your leg."

"Link, I don't know if that's a good idea…" Riari said.

There was a tense standoff for a few moments, but finally the girl sighed and the magical energy swirling around her disappeared. She hopped over to me, and I grabbed her arm to help. Riari looked at me in horror.

"Link, don't touch a Child of Gahar!"

I looked at the girl, and then back at Riari.

"What am I supposed to do? Let her hobble over there with a broken leg?"

"Whatever, just take me over there," The girl said dismissively.

"Oh my god, oh my god. Please tell me this isn't happening. Why is this happening?" Riari muttered to himself as I helped the girl over to the rocks and helped her down.

"Riari, if you don't want to help then keep an eye out for other candidates. Goddesses know they'll be coming with all the screaming she was doing earlier," I said. He walked away without further complaint, and I turned my attention to the girl.

"What happened to your leg?" I asked.

"I tripped."

I glanced up at her.

"And it got scorched in the process of falling down?"

"Whatever, just help me."

I had been about to heal her, but something about her attitude peeved me.

"Am I expected to heal you?" I asked. "I could kill you right now."

She scowled.

"You wouldn't dare."

"How would you stop me?"

The girl raised her hands, ready to summon her magical energy, but I drew my knife in a flash and pressed it to her throat.

"Don't even think about it. Why don't you politely ask me to heal you?"

Her yellow eyes widened in fear when she realized how fast I was.

"I… Okay, please. I got hurt when a group of She-Hau attacked me and I need help."

"That's better." I said. "I don't give a damn if you're Gahar or the weakest person here. You don't get to treat me like I owe you something."

I reached inwards and drew out the power of the Triforce, carefully applying it to her broken shin. Once the bone was reset, I expanded my treatment to cover the burns and bruises. Those healed surprisingly easily, but I still felt exhausted when I finished.

The girl laid her head back and closed her eyes for a moment, so I took the time to study her. She was pretty, to say the least. Even after the events of the last day, her shoulder-length brown hair was still perfectly held in place and her clothing was clean. Besides some dirt smeared on her face, she was otherwise in pristine condition.

 _She almost looks too good._

Upon closer inspection, what I had initially thought was make up on her eyes was actually just the color of her skin. Her eyelashes and the skin beneath them turned into vivid shades of yellow and red at the outer corners of her eyes, and she wore a bright red hairpin with a crest on it. I could only assume it was the symbol of the ruling family.

"What's your name?" I asked.

She sighed to herself.

"It's Rose Gahar."

I stood up and walked over to Riari, who had his back turned several meters away. I was careful to watch Rose in case she tried to catch us off guard.

"She's healed," I said. "Why all the trepidation? I get it that the Gahar are the ruling family, but what's wrong with helping her?"

"There's just… There's a lot of rules involving the children of the ruling family." Riari replied. "We're not even allowed to look at them, and touching them is punishable by death."

"Oh, well that's a problem," I said.

"Well, at least you had her permission, but-"

"I put a knife up to her throat because I didn't like her attitude. She balked."

Riari threw his hands up in the air and stormed off without another word. While he was accepting his impending death, I walked back over to the girl.

"Rose or Gahar?" I asked.

She opened her eyes and looked up at me.

"What?"

"What do you want me to call you? Your name or your family name?"

"Just… Call me Rose."

I sat down next to her and stared off into the distance for a moment. Miraculously, it seemed like the other candidates were too busy fighting each other down beneath the other side of the hill to bother coming up here.

"You want to tell me why you were screaming over there?" I asked.

"No." Rose replied simply.

"Okay, so what will you do now?"

She huffed quietly.

"I was trying to take a nap, but I guess you're going to ruin that for me. What's with you, anyways? Rational people run away the second they see me, and yet you're sitting here next to me like we're friends."

"Because I know you're not going to kill me." I said.

That seemed to flummox her, which amused me.

"So look," I said, "this place kind of sucks, but it sucks more running around on your own. That's why I stuck by Riari over there, and that's why I healed you. You're free to go off and do your own thing again, but I think it's better if we temporarily form a team and survive through this test."

"And what makes you think I'd team up with an Ioni castaway and some no-name creepy dude who put a knife against my throat a couple minutes ago?"

"If you thought I was willing to kill you, you'd have run the second I healed your leg." I said simply.

"What's your deal? Why are you so confident?"

"Just who I am." I said

Heathrow's voice came through my head, interrupting our conversation.

"350 candidates remain, so let's take a thirty minute break." He said. "Afterwards, I will be placing a marker over the Outlier's head. Remember, the one who kills him will be permitted to skip the rest of the Continent of Tests and join the class leaving for the next continent. If a team kills him, the whole team will be permitted to move on."

 _What the hell?!_

I jumped up.

"What?!" Rose asked, startled. "Is someone here?"

"No, I…" I started.

 _Fuck!_

"I need to get out of here," I said finally.

Riari slipped out of the grass and ran over to me.

"Link, we should hunt the Outlier. We can start on top of the hill so we have a good vantage point, and we can move faster since it's just the two of us.

"I need to leave," I said, realizing I was suddenly sweating profusely.

"Dude, what's wrong? Did… Did the Gahar do something to you?"

"No!" Rose said, sitting up. "Don't talk about me like I'm not even here!"

"What did you do to him?" Riari demanded.

"Nothing!"

"Then why's he so-"

"I'm the Outlier." I said, silencing both of them. Rose got to her feet and backed away slowly.

"You've got to be kidding…" She said, allowing her magic to pour out and swirl around her again. Her aura pressed against me, but it wasn't so strong that I needed to push back.

"No, I'm not. I'm going to leave so I don't put either of you in danger."

"I kind of figured already." Riari said. "It's obvious."

I looked at him, surprised.

"You didn't think to kill me while I wasn't looking and take your free pass?"

"Honestly, I don't think I could kill you," He admitted, and then turned to Rose. "Look, Princess. He's strong. He took out three She-Hau like it was nothing, and when he healed us he only used internal energy. Even though this dude has no idea how to use magic right now, he has a chance of going all the way. So I'm going to stick with him."

Rose shook her head in disbelief.

"I would be executed for helping an Outlier. He… I…"

"This Outlier saved my life and healed me, and then spared your life and healed your leg. So you can choose to return the favor and help, or you can at least go away."

Rose clenched her teeth, but once again let her magic fade away.

"I don't have another choice. But after this test is over, I never want to see you again."

"Okay, good." Riari said. "Let's come up with a plan."

…

I waited, tense, in the grass just beneath the top of the hill. In less than a minute, the break would end and my presence would become visible to the other candidates. My heart was pounding like a sledgehammer in my chest. I could die instantly, but this plan was crazy enough that it just might work.

"The break has ended. Combat may resume, and the Outlier will now be marked."

I barely registered Heathrow's voice. The second the break ended, I drew the Master Sword and climbed a few feet to stand on top of the hill. A thin pillar of flame descended from the clouds and hovered above my head, announcing my presence to the remaining candidates.

 _So Heathrow is marking me with fire, which means he's probably a She-Hau._ I realized. He may have been upset about how I killed three members of his family. I shook the thought from my head, since there was nothing I could do about it but to survive.

"Now!" I heard Riari yell.

I took off running down the hill as fast as my feet would carry me, feeling the pressure of a magical explosion where I had been standing. The bell tolled a second later.

The plan was to attract as much attention as possible and run into the middle of the combat zone. Riari and Rose would attack the other candidates as they revealed themselves, and give off the idea that teams were attacking each other so that there was less competition for my life. This plan wouldn't have worked if more than 50 candidates needed to be killed, but if we were lucky we would be able to finish this test before anyone got a serious hit on me.

I ran faster than I had ever run before, using the power of the Triforce to create a thick aura around my body. When I compressed it, it acted as a shield and didn't use quite as much energy. If I were directly battling someone else I wouldn't be able to use my aura like that, but all I needed to do was defend myself.

A team of ten candidates rushed at me from the right, but Riari and Rose lit them up from the top of the hill. Instantly, another team of six attacked the team of ten.

 _It's working!_

I kept running, only attacking anyone who was within striking distance of my sword as I passed by. Other teams were beginning to disrupt each other, and a dozen candidates fell before I got to the bottom of the hill.

I ran faster.

A concentrated bolt of energy made contact with my left shoulder, and I felt a serious drop in my magical power as my aura absorbed the attack. Whoever had cast the spell didn't last long enough to attack me again. Despite the drop in my energy level, I had enough adrenaline pouring into my veins to maintain a dead sprint towards the canyon opposite the hill.

The contest behind me devolved into a complete free-for-all as I started to escape. The bell nearly didn't stop tolling.

"Stop! Candidates, that's enough!"

The deafening explosions and crackling of magical energy slowly ceased behind me, and I slowed to a stop. Heathrow's voice almost sounded panicked.

"Two… Two-hundred ninety-three candidates remain. Those of you left standing on your two feet have passed the first test. Please stand by to be transported to the next area."

I couldn't believe that I was still alive. The column of fire was gone, and I wasn't dead.

 _Holy shit, what have I gotten myself into?_

I wiped the Master Sword and sheathed it, but didn't turn to look at the battlefield behind me. I didn't want to see the carnage, and I needed to protect my own identity. If I had a chance to ditch my cloak when nobody could see me, the only person who would know my face was Riari. Not even Rose had seen me without my hood up, although she would probably recognize my voice.

I blinked, and suddenly I was in what looked like a hotel room. Riari was standing next to me, and Rose was across the room. Before I had time to question the situation, Heathrow's voice invaded my mind again. He sounded much calmer.

"Candidates, many of you will see familiar faces around yourselves. As is normal during the first test on the Continent of Tests, as well as throughout the Gauntlet, you will find that there are many things you cannot do on your own. Most of you formed teams, whether functional or not.

"You have been sorted into the teams you formed during your first test and placed in temporary living quarters with them. For some of you who betrayed a teammate in the final few minutes of the test, this could potentially be a sour arrangement. For those who were loyal to their team, this is likely a relief. And lastly, those of you who spent the first test hiding will find it much more difficult to pass through the Continent of Tests without a team, although it has been done before.

"You may all consider yourself official Battlemage Candidates at this point. The Continent of Tests typically spans the course of six months. Those of you selected at the end of testing will become D-Rank Candidates and pass on to the Continent of Endurance. Much of this six-month period will be spent resting, as is necessary when using as much magical energy as you will here. These living quarters will serve as your rest and socialization area during these times, and you are free to interact with others as you please."

There was a pause.

"Please note that fighting and violence within the rest area will not be tolerated. Instigating or participating in such activities will be grounds for immediate expulsion from the Gauntlet. You will have ten days to rest, not including tonight. Please enjoy them, and be prepared for the next test."

Heathrow's presence disappeared from my mind.

"Please tell me this is a joke."

I looked over at Rose, who was standing by the door of the room.

"Unhappy that you've got teammates?" Riari asked.

"Of all the teammates I could end up with, one of them is the Outlier," She grumbled. "If my family ever finds out about this, I'll be executed."

"Hush, you know the families don't pay attention to a single thing going on in the Gauntlet," Riari replied. "All they care about is if you're standing there victorious at the end of it.'

"And haven't they ever heard of putting women in different rooms?" She continued, ignoring him. "I can't stay in here with two men. What if you try something? I have to sleep at some point, but I can't do that while I'm worried about you two teaming up on me in the middle of the night."

I rolled my eyes as Riari laughed.

"Link is married and I couldn't be any _less_ interested in your body, so don't worry."

I ignored the rest of the exchange while I threw off my cloak and dropped my weapons onto the ground. Once I had taken off my bulky equipment, I flopped onto the bed closest to the window. My mind was still in combat mode, but I could feel myself starting to enter parasympathetic backlash.

The process of combat was a strange feeling. When it started, my senses accelerated to the point where the world seemed to move slowly around me. My mind focused, my vision sharpened, and I went into predator mode. What I hated was the feeling after combat when the adrenaline was beginning to burn off and my body was forcing itself to calm down. I had never had as hard of a time coming off the high of combat as others did, but it was partly due to how many times I had been in deadly force situations. My body simply didn't produce as much adrenaline as it used to, which was both a blessing and a curse.

That didn't mean I was immune to the aftereffects of something as serious as what I had just been through, though. As brief as the end of the test had been, it had been an incredibly high-stress situation that had pushed my mind and body to its limits.

Riari and Rose eventually stopped arguing and both of them stormed out of the room without paying me any attention. Their absence gave me a chance to think, which was both what I needed and what I was afraid of.

 _Malon._

The pain that had been pushed to the side while I was in combat was now an anvil pressing against my chest. I wasn't going to see my wife for several years, at best. At worst, I would die during the Gauntlet and never see her again. Even worse, she had no idea what I was going through and wouldn't even notice my absence. Not that it was her fault, since time was frozen within the barrier of the Gauntlet.

This would be one hell of a story if I ever saw her again. She probably wouldn't believe me at first. It was hardly a logical story.

 _Oh my god, Malon! I haven't seen you in eight years!_

I fell into an even deeper despair when I realized my sex life had come to a screeching halt.

 _If that's not motivation to finish the Gauntlet quickly, I don't know what is._

Once I had finally calmed down, I slipped into an uneasy sleep for the rest of the night. Rose eventually came back in and didn't seem overly concerned that I was in the room, contrary to her behavior earlier. Riari was much quieter when he came in several hours later, and didn't wake me.

Days and nights were longer on the Gauntlet, so I had ample time to get a full night of sleep and wake up before sunrise. I found myself on the balcony staring at the small city sprawling out around the hotel. My room was at least ten stories up, which gave me a decent view of the surrounding area. I would have to explore it during the day.

I had a decision to make, and needed time to think.

The Gauntlet lay before me whether I liked it or not. Here I was weak, unlike the world outside, and I could easily die. The potential of my own death wasn't a new experience, but I hadn't felt so hopeless in a long time. In fact, I hadn't felt this hopeless since I received the news of the massacre on Koholint Island.

 _Maybe this is what Impa wanted. Maybe I need to feel this to know what I'll go through if I fail._

After all, if I couldn't defeat Richard I certainly couldn't defeat the Church of Eta Ali. I had greatly underestimated their abilities and the extent of their influence. Lanayru had fallen in a matter of hours, and many of the other cities on Faron weren't faring any better.

Fortunately the Eta Ali's progress was on pause while I trained. That was my only saving grace.

I sighed, overwhelmed by the insurmountable task ahead of me. I knew that if I had the right motivation, there wasn't a washout rate in the world that would make me fail. The problem was finding that motivation. I had made it through Black Ops training on hatred and a thirst for revenge. Unfortunately I didn't have anything nearly as powerful for the Gauntlet. The sting of my friends' deaths had dulled over the past six years, even if it was still painful. I still hated the Eta Ali, but I no longer felt the burning desire to personally strangle every one of their members.

That left me with one option. I had to finish this to see Malon again and ensure that we could live together peacefully. It was easier said than done, but I knew I could do it if I kept my eyes on the prize.

I also realized that my days in the SSC were numbered the moment the Church of Eta Ali fell. I was ready for a peaceful life without the constant stress of combat and protecting the queen. Impa would try to stop me, but I had no motivation to stay in the military after my grudge match was over.

I was staring at the picture of Malon I had kept when I heard the door open behind me. Rose stepped outside.

"Do you mind talking for a minute?" She asked.

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes, unsure of what her motivations were. Her voice had a different tone to it than the day before. She actually sounded nice.

"What's going on?" I asked after a moment.

"I just wanted to figure out who you actually are," She replied. "We're a team, whether you're an Outlier or not. So we need to find out how to work together efficiently so we don't die. It's always said that individuals don't become Imperial Battlemages. Teams do."

"What do you want to know, then?" I asked.

Rose paused awkwardly.

"Are you actually married?"

"Yes," I said, fascinated that both her and Riari had fixated on that single aspect of my life.

"To who?"

"A woman, in case you're wondering."

"I wasn't… I just think that's a really sweet thing," Rose said. "We don't get to ever have relationships or get married."

"Battlemages?" I asked.

"No, the Gahar," Rose replied. "We're chosen from the Elite Families and given special powers, but we're forbidden from passing them on."

"Why is that?"

"The King Battlemage is a very guarded man, and doesn't share his power lightly. We're literally taking a portion of his magical aptitude, and it reinforces both our magical and physical abilities."

"Oh," I said. "That explains why we're not supposed to even glance in your direction."

"It's not quite that dramatic, but Riari was right to be cautious."

There was a lull in the conversation, and I wondered what else she had to say. I had been fully enjoying my alone time before she came outside.

"So you obviously weren't trained on the Gauntlet by a family, and you weren't trained as part of the Battlemage Program," Rose said finally.

"Obviously."

"So where were you trained?"

"I wasn't," I said.

"Come again? You weren't trained in magic?"

"No," I replied. "I know how to use a little bit of it, but my strength is killing people with a sniper rifle at distances well over a thousand meters. Needless to say, a sword is _not_ my first pick for a weapon."

"And yet you're better with the sword than you are with magic."

I nodded.

"I can do some healing magic, and I've used it offensively once," I said. "Otherwise I'm completely useless."

Rose gawked for a moment before she was able to reply.

"How the hell did you get here?"

I shrugged.

"Call it bad luck."

"But you know how to use your internal energy, and you fueled your healing powers with it?"

I nodded.

"So nobody ever taught you how to manipulate external mana?"

"No, I wasn't aware of its existence until Riari made some offhanded comment about it. I didn't have time to make him elaborate, unfortunately."

"Would you like to learn?"

I glanced over at her curiously.

"Would it make me more powerful?"

"That depends on the amount of internal mana you've got," She replied. "You have to use your internal mana, or _maniah_ , is used to manipulate the external mana, or _maneah_ , around you. Basically you use your own mana to affect the mana of your surroundings."

"Is mana the same thing as energy?" I asked.

"Not quite. Mana behaves in much the same way as energy, but you're not transferring heat from one place to another. The She-Hau are the only exception to that rule, since their magic relies on both mana and energy. But when I talk about magical energy, I'm not talking about the energy that gives things heat. I'm talking about actual mana that flows through the world around us."

I had heard some of this before, but hadn't paid much attention. The mana from Demise's curse had been entirely contained within me, so I had never bothered to manipulate the mana in the world around me. It was possible that the curse was incapable of such a thing.

"So how do I do it?" I asked.

Rose shrugged.

"It takes most people several years of intensive training to be able to affect anything substantial. Manipulation of external mana is very difficult."

"Then teach me," I said. "We're going to be stuck in here for about eight years, so I have time."

She sighed.

"I'll do my best, but don't expect quick results. This is the most frustrating part of learning magic."

She walked over and sat down next to me.

"Close your eyes and gain control over your internal mana."

I leaned back in my chair and did as she said, finding the energy of the Triforce in an instant. It was almost as if it was ready to be used for this.

"I've got it." I said.

"Okay, now reach out to the space several inches around you and feel for the maneah. You may only be able to feel it touching your skin, or not at all. That's normal."

Once again I did as she said. It took an immense amount of concentration, but I eventually discovered that I could detect mana in much the same way I detected enemies. It was a faint presence, like a constant breeze blowing across my body, but I could feel it. I pushed my detection range out and found that I could sense swirls of maneah floating around my head and rising up from the ground.

I reached out towards Rose, noticing that the maneah around her swirled intensely. She was sitting several feet from me, but I felt like I could reach her with my detection. She yelped and jumped up from her chair when my mind passed over her mana, instantly breaking my concentration and sending me back to reality.

"No, don't stop!" She said when I opened my eyes.

I reached out to my internal mana again and pushed my consciousness out. The mana was flowing differently now that Rose had moved, but I could still feel it.

"Good, you can feel it. Now imagine gathering all of the maneah in a certain area to a small point above your right hand."

I followed her instructions, but nothing happened.

"As you're imagining it, use a little of your maniah to kind of… coax the maneah into that point."

Just as she had told me, it was a lot easier said than done. Although it wasn't difficult to imagine what I needed to do, applying my maniah in the right way was an entirely different animal. The correct way to control maneah was fleeting and fickle.

"Try this," Rose said. "Imagine you're gathering the entire world in the palm of your hand."

Suddenly the task seemed much easier, and I managed to compress a few centimeters of maneah into a ball of visible light above my hand.

"Good, now compress that maneah down into a tiny ball."

I found immediately that the external mana was like a gas and could be easily compressed. The action of compressing it drew more maneah into the surrounding area, which was then able to be compressed into the existing ball of mana. This created a chain reaction that required a marginally increasing amount of my maniah.

Within a few seconds, my hand began to shake with the force of containing the energy. I looked at Rose questioningly, finding her staring at me in amazement.

"What do I do with it?" I asked.

"Oh!" She said, snapping back to reality. "Point your hand in the air and release the compression at the back of the sphere. That will make it fire straight forward."

I placed my hand in front of me pointed 45 degrees into the sky and released the compression of a tiny part in the back of the sphere of mana. Just as Rose said it would, the energy sped away from me as fast as a bullet, leaving a trail of glowing green mana behind it. I felt fatigued, but the exercise hadn't drained me nearly as much as healing my two teammates had.

"So just like that?" I asked Rose.

She gawked at me for a moment before responding.

"It wasn't great, but you were able to manifest a mana bolt with only a basic explanation of the principles involved," She said. "It took me two years of training to do that, and I was considered a fast learner. Are you sure you never received any kind of magical training?"

"Absolutely sure," I replied. "With the kind of magic I had access to, I didn't dare ask anyone for help for fear of them finding out what I was capable of."

"Should I ask for more detail?"

"Only if you want to be sorely disappointed with my lack of any comprehensive answers," I said.

She shrugged.

"Whatever, I'm glad you learn quickly. I don't want to have to babysit you, so you'd better keep up that pace."

"Then teach me during the break," I said. "Let's practice every morning."

"Fine, but don't disappoint me. We can work on your aim next, and then we'll move to being able to fire off bolts at angles. That will come in handy when you figure out how to make multiple bolts at once, since you can attack several people at once with that method."

She turned to go back through the door, but stopped when I turned and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"Why do you act different in private than you do in public? You're a lot nicer here."

She scoffed and walked back in the room, much to my amusement. When I turned back to look at the sky, I noticed that the suns were beginning to brighten the upper atmosphere. The first day of rest was about to begin, but I had no intention of actually resting. I closed my eyes and reached out for the surrounding mana again, finding it very different with Rose out of the immediate vicinity.

 _Time for round two._

…

I spent the next nine days practicing as much as my body could physically handle. By dinnertime every night I was so exhausted that Riari had to bring me food and practically drag me to bed. The only time I left the room to explore the city was on the tenth day, when I decided that it would be better to actually rest in preparation for the test the next day.

Tensions were running high when we gathered outside a nearby arena the morning of the eleventh day, as none of us knew what to expect. I thought several people were about to crack right before Heathrow appeared in front of us. His gray hair and gray eyes were calm, masking his emotions as he stared at me for several seconds. I was wearing different clothing this time, but he seemed to know that I was the Outlier regardless.

 _What's with this dude? Is he going to try to get everyone to kill me again?_

"Good morning, candidates," He said once we had quieted down. "Welcome to the beginning of the next test. I hope you've spent some time bonding with your new team, because you're going to need them for the next few days."

The doors of the arena opened behind him, and his eyes drifted over the crowd.

"The name of the next test is 'Team Battle.' Please follow me inside."

…

 **Don't forget to review! I know this is a significant change from the sci-fi aspect of the story, but I'm enjoying fleshing out the magical part of this world.**

 **Pronunciations are as follows:**

 **Gahar: Guh-Hahr**

 **She-Hau: Sheh-How**

 **Ioni: Eye-oh-nee**

 **Maniah: Man-e-ah**

 **Maneah: Man-eh-ah**

 **Or you can pronounce it in your head however you feel like, since it probably doesn't matter.**


	21. Pt 2 Ch 6 - The Continent of Tests 2

Part 2 Chapter 6

"The team battles will be conducted in tournament style, and elimination will be based on a hitpoints-based system. Your physical, magical, and other extraneous abilities have been judged by an unbiased computer system, and you have each been awarded a level based on the results of several thousand simulated battles.

"This level will affect the tournament in many ways. Due to variations in team sizes, battles will be limited to the size of the smallest team, and combat will continue until all of a team's members run out of hitpoints. Once an individual runs out of hitpoints, he or she will be safely teleported from the arena. Smaller teams will be given a handicap, and teams with a lower level average will be given a point bonus that correlates to how big the difference in level was."

I looked at my two teammates, realizing that we were still at a disadvantage in this fight despite the fact that the administrators had leveled the playing field somewhat. If we were put up against a much larger team, they would have many options whereas we had to fight with what we had. The largest team had fourteen members, and consisted of almost all She-Hau family members. I especially didn't want to fight them, since Riari and I had killed several of their brothers and sisters.

The levels were unexpected, and I didn't know what to think about them yet.

"Losing a battle in this tournament will not cause your team to be cut from the list of candidates. You will each be judged individually and as a team based on your performance. Obviously, winning a battle gives your team another chance to prove itself and extra consideration for the judges."

"Excuse me," One of the She-Hau team leaders said, raising his hand up as Heathrow paused.

"Yes?"

"So if I understand this right, even if we win a fight we may not advance?"

"That is correct," Heathrow replied. "For example, if you fight a team of six with your 14-member team, you will have to choose six fighters. The smaller team will be given an eight-point handicap because they have eight less members and lack the luxury of choosing who will fight.

"Furthermore, say that the average level of the six-member team is 24, whereas the average level of the six fighters you choose is 32. The lower-leveled team receives another 8-point boost. So if you choose higher-leveled fighters, they have to perform like higher-leveled fighters and crush the lower-leveled fighters to make sure that the weaker team doesn't advance even though they lost. On the flip side, if you were to be on the weaker team, you have a chance to advance by simply performing better than expected. You will also only have a maximum of thirty minutes for each contest. If the battle is not over by then, the judges will call off the match and make their decision based on the events that occurred during the time limit."

 _So the larger teams have their own disadvantages to contend with._ I realized. _This game is more about strategy and prudent risk-taking than outright strength._

Suddenly it hit me.

 _They're not testing our fighting abilities! They're testing our ability to strategize._

"Please make your way to a waiting area," Heathrow said. "The tournament will begin shortly."

There were plenty of waiting areas spread throughout the large room, so Riari, Rose, and myself casually made our way to the back and found a spot in the corner. I could hear many of the larger teams grumbling, but ignored it.

"You guys figured out what they're testing, right?"

"It's not about strength or combat," Riari said, nodding. "At least not entirely."

"We have to fight as a team and perform better than expected, no matter what's thrown at us," Rose added. "This will be a serious disadvantage to the teams that don't work well together."

"Right," I said. "But we also don't know who we're fighting or what our levels are. So we could be at a disadvantage when we get out there as far as handicaps go."

"Or we could be completely overmatched and flunk out immediately." Riari said.

I nodded.

"The point is we have to work as a team and last as long as we can against stronger teams, and absolutely crush teams that are weaker than we are."

Rose and Riari agreed, and we settled into an uncomfortable waiting silence. After about ten minutes, the TV screens switched on and showed a view of a large open-air arena with seating around the ground level. The actual battle area looked like a ruined urban environment, with several decrepit buildings and obstacles scattered throughout the floor. It was nearly a hundred meters long and fifty meters wide, with plenty of room for open-area fighting and building-to-building combat.

A display appeared in front of the live feed of the arena that separated us into our teams and showed various stats. The left side of the boxes showed pictures of our faces, and the top showed our names followed by a numerical level. Below that was a red bar labeled HP and a blue bar labeled MP. Beneath that were stats for strength, speed, endurance, magical affinity, magical resistance, and luck.

 _Luck? Really?_

I shrugged and waited for my name. It looked as if the teams were organized by size, which put us near the middle. Once our names came across, I quickly absorbed the information.

 _Rose Gahar, LVL 39_

 _HP: 43_

 _MP: 71_

 _STR 15, SPD 25, END 15_

 _MAFF 45, MRES 37, LUCK 17_

 _Riari Ioni, LVL 32_

 _HP: 36_

 _MP: 60_

 _STR 13, SPD 26, END 17_

 _MAFF 39, MRES 37, LUCK 19_

 _Link, LVL 28_

 _HP: 90_

 _MP: 99+_

 _STR 89, SPD 61, END 95_

 _MAFF 2, MRES 1, LUCK 41_

I heard several conversations stop throughout the waiting room as my name scrolled across the screen. My picture was absent, but soon all eyes were on my team as the other candidates recognized my teammates.

"I guess we have their attention," Rose said with a shrug.

"Let's not let that detract from the fact that Link's magical affinity and resistance are both crazy low level," Riari pointed out.

"Right, but you and I are both above average in that regard," Rose said. "Might be nice to have some muscle."

"89 levels of muscle."

Rose reached over and squeezed my left bicep.

"Yeah I believe it."

I rolled my eyes.

"You guys realize I can hear you, right?"

They both ignored me and continued staring at the screen, but I was distracted. My levels hadn't come as a surprise to me except for my MP, which was simply labeled as 99+. That was higher than both of my teammates.

"What exactly is MP?" I asked. "Why is mine so high?"

"Think of it as your total pool of maniah," Riari said. "You have a limited amount that regenerates over time. Your magical affinity is how well you can control maneah with your maniah. So the more MP you have, the more maniah you have. And the higher your magical affinity is, the more efficient you are at controlling maneah."

"Let's appreciate that he managed to raise an affinity level in ten days, though," Rose said. "He was only using maniah in the first test, so he was definitely at level one affinity."

Riari nodded in agreement.

"Candidates, the first team battle will begin now," Heathrow's voice said through the overhead speakers. "Teams 1 and 128, please make your way to the starting area."

I hadn't noticed the team numbers because I was so focused on my level. The large team of She-Hau and a smaller team of only five members both stood up and moved to the doors at the end of the room. Once they opened, they passed through and walked out to the arena.

"Here we go," I said, watching them appear on screen. Several spectators had filed into the arena, although they didn't appear to be there for a good time.

"Administrators," Riari said, seeing my questioning look.

"For the other tests?"

He nodded.

"The administrators from other continents and some of the other tests will be attending bigger events like this. It helps them get a feel for the newest classes and scout out the strongest candidates. Some of them represent organizations, as well."

There were about fifty of them in total, all with old-school paper notebooks taking notes.

 _I guess mages don't keep up with the times._

Team 1, the She-Hau, and Team 128, the smaller group, met in the middle of the arena with Heathrow looking on from a raised platform.

"Team 1, you must select five members to fight Team 128."

There didn't seem to be any room for debate among the She-Hau. The strongest five stepped forward without hesitation or furtive glances, and the remaining nine filed to the side of the arena.

"The She-Hau respect power above all else," Riari explained, seeing my confusion. "While they're already at a point disadvantage because they're so much larger than team two, and could probably offset that by putting in only a slightly more powerful five-man team, they won't play games. Their only goal will be to go in and absolutely crush the opponent, even if that means the possibility of losing the match because of the handicap."

The stat board scrolled across the screen, showing that Team 128 had been given a 9-point handicap due to its smaller size and a 14-point level handicap.

"So basically what team two has to do to win is last longer than a few minutes?" I asked.

"It really depends on whoever judges this," Rose said. Riari nodded in agreement.

"The individual judges will have an expectation for how long Team 128 is supposed to last."

Heathrow talked to the two teams for a few minutes before his platform floated above the floor of the arena. A shield appeared around the battleground to protect the observers, and a countdown started. Thirty seconds.

"Who do you think will win?" I asked.

"Team 1."

"Team 1 for sure."

I nodded in agreement.

 _Here we go._

…

The She-Hau crushed Team 128, as expected, and the tournament progressed fairly quickly. Many of the teams were only one member each. Solo candidates seemed to be at a hefty disadvantage despite the point handicaps, and most fell quickly to the larger teams.

I hardly remembered we had a tournament to fight until we were next.

"Teams 100 and 34, please make your way to the waiting area."

I looked up, startled.

"It's our turn already?" I asked. Rose and Riari hadn't noticed, either.

"I suppose so." Riari replied.

We all stood up and walked over to the doors. Team 34 had four members, which meant we didn't have much of a handicap. What worried me was that all four members seemed to have high magical aptitude and resistance scores. They all rivaled Riari, although Rose was more powerful.

When the doors opened, we were ushered into separate rooms to wait on the two groups ahead of us to finish.

"So what's our strategy?" Riari asked, looking at me.

I stared at him for a moment.

"I was thinking we'd just pick off one at a time. That's always worked for me in the past."

"No, that won't work against these guys," Rose said immediately.

"Why's that?"

"I saw them during the crazy fight at the end of the last test," She said. "The one that Link wasn't watching because he was running. Those four had formed a team and actually managed to deflect several of my most powerful spells, as well as attacks from other teams."

"So we can't use magic on them?" Riari asked.

"No, I don't think that's it. Somehow they've developed a way to pool their energy into a magical defense that's stronger than the sum of its parts. So it's not that we can't pick off one at a time, but we're not going to get so lucky that they give us an opportunity. We'll have to make one."

"Sounds fine to me," I said. Riari nodded in agreement, so we spent a few minutes working out the details. By the time the two matches ahead of us were finished and Heathrow called our team to the floor of the arena, I felt ready.

Riari was nervous, but I was more concerned about Rose as we stepped out of the planning room. She was sweating and trembling, so I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Get a hold of yourself, it's not like we're going to die here."

She nodded shakily, but didn't seem to take any solace in that. It was likely the threat of being unable to continue that made her the most nervous.

 _I wonder what happens to the people who wash out._

It was a moot point, though. I wasn't going to wash out.

We met Team 34 in the middle, and they selected their three strongest members to fight us. Our level average was one higher than theirs, so the team size handicap was nullified.

"This event is fairly straightforward since there's no handicap advantage for either team," Heathrow said to us. "Whoever wins this battle advances to the next round."

I stared down the closest Team 34 member, who looked distinctly uncomfortable with the situation. Once he looked at me, I slowly drew the Master Sword and stared at him. The gesture had the intended effect.

We were teleported to opposite ends of the arena, and the match began. I turned to look at my teammates and found that Rose was still shaky and nervous.

"Come on," I said, knowing I needed to take charge. "I got to one of them right before the match. Let's see if we can flank them and force him away from the others."

Riari and Rose followed me as I slid past the buildings on the floor of the arena. This was a lot like what I had trained to do as a sniper, although the end result was different. As a sniper I would move between buildings to set up another shooting point and take out one or two more targets. Here I was trying to move myself into an advantageous position for close combat.

I caught sight of Team 34 three minutes after the start of the match. It was only a brief flash of movement, but that was all I needed.

"Over there," I whispered, pointing to my left. They had just moved into a building on the far north side of the arena floor.

I knew we needed to act fast. Getting magicians out of a fortified building was an extreme challenge, so the less time Team 34 had to set up their defenses the better our chances were.

We moved up the side of the building and I slid in the door like a ghost. A casual observer would have had to be looking directly at the door from the inside to see my silhouette. The interior of the building was strangely dark, although my Black Ops bioaugmentation helped with that.

Nobody was in the first room, so I looked at the two doors in front of me. One led to a hallway, and I couldn't see where the other one went. Although I was typically wary of blind corners, I was also wary of an ambush. Anyone with a shred of tactical knowledge would expect me to come down the hallway after entering through this door, although a rookie would set up an ambush on the blind corner hoping to catch me off guard.

That was assuming Team 34 had even had time to set up an ambush in the two minutes they had been in this building alone.

Riari tapped my shoulder and pointed at the doorway I couldn't see past. Since I was torn, I decided to simply follow his wishes and go that way. Our goal was to slip past Team 34 at first and catch them where they didn't expect us.

I used the Master Sword to get a reflection of the hallway leading past the blind corner. It appeared to be empty, so I swept into it and found that it led to a flight of stairs and a door to the exit. Past the stairs were several more doorways that actually had doors covering them.

 _They're definitely upstairs._

I put my arm out to stop Riari, who was following directly behind me, and then pointed up the stairs. He nodded and passed the message to Rose. My suspicion was that Team 34 was waiting to ambush us on the stairs, so I reached out and felt the maneah swirling around me.

Sure enough, an unusually strong flow of maneah was flowing up the stairs. I didn't dare reach out further on the off chance that they hadn't noticed our presence yet.

I nudged Riari and Rose back into the first room we had come in to quickly whisper a plan to them, but Rose was one step ahead of me.

"They're going to have set up barriers," she whispered, barely audible even in the deafening silence of the house. "We should throw a powerful bolt of energy up there. It won't break the barrier, but it might get one of them to come at us."

I didn't have a better plan, so I nodded in agreement and we all crept back into the hallway. Riari charged up a bolt of electricity so powerful it made my hair stand on end, and then leaned around the corner and unleashed it towards the top of the stairs. The top of the house nearly exploded with the impact, sending wood and concrete flying in every direction. I turned my head, hoping to keep splinters out of my eyes.

I heard the three members of Team 34 yelling in confusion, and knew that the time to act was now. I charged up the shattered stairs and solidified the Triforce's aura around my body into a compact shell. A spell ricocheted off the makeshift shield as soon as I reached the top of the stairs, causing a noticeable drop in my internal energy. I turned towards the direction the attack had come from, seeing one of the Team 34 members had, in fact, gotten separated from the other two. It was the same one I stared down before the match, and he looked terrified.

I grinned and slammed into him, interrupting his casting of a second spell. The impact sent us both falling through a shattered wall and into the room beyond.

 _Shit._

The world went into slow-motion when I realized that the other two had been hiding in this room. They were charging an electricity-based spell together, and I could already tell that it would be lights-out if I were hit. As I fell, I pointed the tip of the Master Sword down towards the chest of the one I had tackled. He was teleported out the second the blade slammed into his ribs, and I rolled to the side.

The lightning screamed by my leg, glancing off my shield and nearly shattering it in the process. I staggered to my feet, feeling the fatigue setting in as I ran out of maniah.

 _I can't take even a glancing blow now._

Riari and Rose came around the corner as the two remaining members of Team 34 began firing spells in my direction. I tried to maneuver towards them, but they kept putting magical attacks in the direction I wanted to move.

Riari threw electricity at them, and it skittered across a shield just before it reached its target. Rose tried a wave of fire, although it had the same effect.

I needed to get closer, so I would have to change my tactics. These two had perfected the defensive game, and already seemed to know how to protect themselves from our individual strengths. I ducked towards the door and grabbed my teammates, dragging them down the stairs.

"Run!"

Riari complied instantly, but I had to pick Rose up and physically drag her out of the building. We crashed into a different house down the street and I tossed her down.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" She yelled immediately. "We had them!"

"No we didn't," I replied calmly. "They were perfectly capable of blocking both of you and preventing me from getting close."

Rose huffed and stormed around the room, grumbling quietly.

"So what now?" Riari asked.

"Now we have an advantage," I said. "If the match doesn't end in another fifteen minutes, it will time out and the judges will pick a winner. I took out one of their members before you two got in the room, so we would probably win. The other two members of 34 know that, so they'll now have to go on the offensive."

"Which means they'll be out of their element," Riari said. "They're good at defense, which means their offensive skills may be lacking."

"Exactly."

Rose sighed.

"Fine, that's actually a really good point. But what's your plan?"

"We make them chase us until the match times out or they give us an opportunity to hit back. We shouldn't take any chances-"

The doorway we had run in exploded, and Riari disappeared as he was hit by the brunt of the lightning coursing into the room. Rose yelled in surprise, but I grabbed her and raced towards the closest exit.

Apparently Team 34 wasn't just good at defense.

We barreled into an alleyway and I realized immediately that we were being funneled into a trap. The house had three doors, and I had left out of the one that led into cover. Team 34's members would expect me to do that.

"Wait," I said, grabbing Rose and pulling her back. "Stop here and cover me. One of them will be watching the end of this alley, and the other will come up behind us."

She nodded, her eyes wide in panic. I knew what she was thinking.

 _We can't lose. Not in the first round._

I crept back to the door and lay down in the mildly dense brush around it. My cloak would conceal me to all but the observant eye, so I waited patiently.

Several minutes after the explosion, I heard a set of footsteps creeping through the house. They were light, but the blast had torn up the floor and made it unstable. They paced towards the other door quietly, and then headed towards the one I had exited.

An impact nearly caused me to jump out of cover, but I resisted the urge. Rose yelled several unintelligible curses, and I felt the maneah of the entire area shift as it gathered towards her.

The Team 34 member that was creeping in the house showed his inexperience and ran out to help his teammate. He didn't even have time to blink before I lunged, driving the point of the Master Sword into his chest and causing him to disappear. I turned and looked at Rose, who seemed to be handling the last opponent well enough. He wasn't a pushover, though, and I figured she could use some help.

I leapt up and grabbed the edge of the high wall blocking the alley, pulling myself over it and jumping onto a nearby roof. Team 34's last member was standing at the end of the alley about ten meters away, so I leapt along the roofline towards him.

I took a moment to try concealing the presence of my maniah, since he knew I was coming but not from where. When a bolt of lightning cut through the air and deflected off Rose's defenses, I leapt from the roof and into the alleyway.

Team 34's final member was already looking at me, and I knew I hadn't done a good enough job concealing my presence. His lightning enveloped me, shattering the remainder of my maniah barrier.

I blinked, and I was sitting next to Riari in the waiting room. Three seconds later, Rose appeared next to us. We all looked at each other, shocked.

"So what happened?" I asked finally.

"I got him," Rose said, grinning. "When he turned and fried you, that gave me an opening."

Riari and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well that's that."

"Teams 100 and 34, please return to the main waiting area now."

We followed Heathrow's instructions and came face to face with Team 34 as we exited the doors. A brief second passed in which I wondered if they would try to start something out here, but one of them grinned. It was the same one who had killed me.

"You guys are one hell of a team to fight. We thought we had you for a minute there, but you pulled through."

I smiled in relief, glad that they weren't taking this loss to heart.

"You three really have something going, too," Riari pointed out. "We couldn't break through your defenses no matter what we threw at you."

We moved to the side as more teams entered the battle waiting area. Teams 102 and 103 were already in a heated contest on the arena floor, both having chosen brute force over tactics and precision. After a few moments of pleasantries, we returned to our seats and took a breather.

The first round concluded an hour later, as most matches were decided in just a few minutes. Heathrow's voice once again came through the speakers above our heads.

"Candidates, you may now go back to your rooms and rest. Round two will occur after three days of rest, and only those who were victorious in the first round are allowed to be here. The 64 losing teams from today have no further responsibilities until the advancement results come out after the fourth round, and may rest until then.

"For those of you wondering, you will automatically advance to the next round of tests if you are a member of the eight teams who win round four. Winners, make sure you are practicing during your downtime."

There were mixed emotions around the room. The winners, of course, were ecstatic at the thought of being guaranteed advancement. Getting through the fourth round was still a monumental task, but it wasn't impossible. 56 of the remaining teams would lose before that point, after all. But it was something to reach for.

The losers, on the other hand, were nervous and angry. I understood why. Some of the battles hadn't properly showcased the skills of those involved, and many were worried about being cut despite being a skilled magic user. Others were simply praying for survival, since their contests had only displayed their weakness compared to the others involved.

I didn't pay the other teams any mind as I returned to my room. I could barely stand on my own feet by the time I reached my door, and Rose had to help me to my bed.

Three days might not have been enough.

…

The first day was spent sleeping. Riari and I were both so sore and tired that Rose had to bring us food and water throughout the day. By nighttime, though, we were both feeling better and I was able to continue practicing manipulating maneah.

My skills were slightly improving. I had better control over maneah bursts, and I was able to form them faster than before. They were still completely useless in combat, though, so I decided to try something new. Rose noticed the shift in maneah instantly and came out on the balcony to investigate.

"What are you doing?"

I didn't respond, instead focusing on the edge of the Master Sword and drawing the surrounding maneah towards the blade. A faint green light appeared from the metal, growing brighter as I crammed more maneah into the tiny space around the sharp edges.

Finally, when I could no longer contain the pressure of the maneah, I released it slowly. The Master Sword burst into green flames, which I maintained by drawing in as much maneah as I allowed out. My maniah would run out eventually, but this spell seemed fairly easy to hold.

"I can't use purely offensive maneah, so I wanted to do something useful," I said, finally answering Rose's question. "It seems to be a lot easier to use a vessel to contain the maneah that I condense."

"It's not quite that easy," Rose said, shaking her head in response. "That sword you've got is naturally inclined to accept your maniah and the maneah you manipulate with it. You couldn't do that with just any weapon. What is it?"

"It's… complicated," I replied with a shrug.

"We've got time."

I thought about it for a moment, but I realized it didn't matter. Rose already knew I was an Outlier, which meant that I could somewhat safely tell her about the outside.

"How much do you know about Hyrule's history?" I asked. She looked around awkwardly.

"We don't learn much about it. Even in the Gahar. History is a low priority when you're training to survive the Gauntlet. I've heard they give us a lot of classes near the end of the Continent of Tests."

"I'll give you a history class now," I said. "It'll help me learn to multi-task while using magic."

Rose peeked back in the hotel room and called out to Riari. He staggered outside a few moments later.

"Hylian history?" He asked, surprisingly interested.

"Yeah, sit." I replied.

For the next hour, I delved into old Hylian legends and the events that had led Hyrule to its small place in the galaxy so far. I focused very heavily on the Great War and the King's Collective, and then moved into Hylian government. All the while, I maintained the magic on my sword.

I then moved to the topic of Zelda and my place in the SSC. I told them about Malon in great detail, and slipped a little too much into my own personal story before redirecting to Hylian history. From there, I moved on to the background of the Master Sword and why it was so important, as well as its connection to the line of heroes. Then I moved on into the most recent discoveries about the Church of Eta Ali and its appearance on Faron.

I paused when I got to the battle going on in Lanayru. Fortunately all the candidates here seemed to understand the time warp going on in the Gauntlet, and my teammates didn't need a thorough explanation that the battle was both ongoing and paused.

"So did the Eta Ali win?" Riari asked, sensing my hesitation.

"Well… Not yet," I replied. "Last I heard, they were on track to take the city. That's why I came here to train. I told you about Richard and the issues he was causing, right?"

They both nodded.

"He nearly killed me before I left Faron," I continued. "Not only that, he threatened to do some particularly horrible things to Zelda. I have to become stronger than him to prevent that from happening. That's why I can't allow myself to fail."

It was strange to share so much with people I had just met two weeks ago, but I understood the importance of being open with my teammates. For at least the next six months, we would have to keep each other alive. During difficult selection processes throughout the Black Ops courses, I had always made it a point to create a team and nurture its abilities. That was the absolute key to my success, and I was planning on continuing that practice here on the Gauntlet.

Of course, that didn't mean I was locked in with this specific team or any team. In the course of the Gauntlet, I would likely be forced to mesh with another team or join a new one altogether. In Black Ops training, the instructors had sometimes formed new teams from individuals that hated each other. I was expecting something similar here, although not until later.

One thing I knew already, though, was that our team didn't mesh very well as far as skills. Riari and Rose were both wildly talented magicians, while I was useless at most anything involving magic. I looked over at Rose, who was throwing two bolts of red maneah at once. She was working on her aim and control, and seemed to be able to control one fully and the other partially. That she was able to form two maneah bolts at all was astounding, as most of the other candidates couldn't.

Riari's magic was different. Because his maneah manifested as blue lightning, it reached its destination nearly instantly. His issue, therefore, was not accuracy but power. His attacks lacked the overwhelming strength of Rose's, although they were still formidable. I had come to understand that even a member of the four elite families could never hope to keep up with a member of the ruling family that had even a quarter of the experience. The difference in natural talent was just too great to overcome.

I, on the other hand, brought almost nothing to the table besides a thorough understanding of tactics and combat, and about three times as much muscle as any other candidate. Currently I was armed with a sword that offered very little offensive capabilities against magicians, and I knew how to create a shield of pure maniah that left me drained and exhausted after two or three hits.

I was frustrated, to say the least. I wanted to be worth the trouble of having on this team, but I had a feeling I would drag Rose and Riari down in my current state. Even the extra layer of magic I had discovered I could add to the Master Sword didn't change very much. I still couldn't use an effective maneah bolt in battle, which was the cornerstone of every magician's ability.

I needed to find some way to increase my defensive ability. For now, I was an excellent tank for my teammates, who wielded significant offensive power. If I could increase my ability to take or deflect hits, I could increase the amount of time they had to attack whoever we were fighting.

The question was how to do that. I had already found that forming maneah into a shield around myself was hardly worth the effort, since it blocked very little incoming magic. Compared to the strength of my Triforce-based maniah shield, it was nothing. That said, most candidates seemed incapable of creating anything tangible out of their maniah, which meant I had a leg up in that regard.

However, I couldn't gain more maniah. The sum of a magician's maniah was fixed and unchanging throughout his life, meaning he simply had to learn to use it more efficiently. The more maneah I could influence with the total of my maniah, the more powerful of a magician I was considered to be. That was the basis of the Magical Affinity skill that I only scored a 2 in.

Team 34's defensive magic had been something special. All three members of that team had high magical affinity and were able to condense significant amounts of maneah into a compact shield. Then by working together, they were capable of creating a shield that was stronger than the sum of its parts. I knew that that wouldn't work with my magical affinity and my teammates' tendency towards offensive magic.

Another idea crossed my mind.

"Rose," I said, breaking her concentration. "Where does maneah come from?"

She glanced over at me, slightly annoyed.

"It runs throughout large celestial bodies like moons, planets, and stars. I've already told you that."

"So then you're limited to using only maniah when you're away from a planet?"

She nodded.

I had realized when she told me that the first time that that's why Imperial Battlemages had seemed so rare. The only time I had ever seen one was during a ground battle where she had had access to Castle's maneah. Otherwise I had mostly been in space aboard Navy destroyers, where an Imperial Battlemage would be useless and therefore would not go.

I closed my eyes and focused on the maneah around me. Concentrating on all the maneah swirling around the balcony was now an easy task, whereas even a meter radius had been challenging at first. According to Riari, it was shocking that I could detect that much maneah only two weeks after starting, but it didn't feel strange to me.

More maneah was swirling around Rose than anywhere else, so I started with hers. Compressing maneah was the basis of any maneah bolt attack, but I wanted to do something different. Instead of compressing it, I pulled it apart and created a small vacuum of magical energy about half a meter across. It was surprisingly easy, so I targeted the maneah around Rose and increased the radius. Maneah started flowing in rapidly from other directions, so I morphed the maneah vacuum around in an attempt to stop the flow.

Much to my aggravation, it didn't work. Rose hadn't yet noticed that I was trying to stop her from attacking.

In a brief moment of frustration, I centered the void on her body and expanded it to the max size I could handle, which barely covered her. Now her power dropped immediately, nearly halting the flow of maneah into her body and causing her to stumble awkwardly as her maniah no longer had a significant amount of maneah to interact with. A second later, her maniah extended out and gripped the maneah outside the vacuum.

"What the hell was that?" She said suddenly, shocked at the interruption. "Was that… No-"

"Was that reverse maneah control?" Riari asked, staring at me.

"What's that?" I replied.

"Reverse maneah control. It's the act of pulling maneah away from an area instead of compressing it," He said. "I saw what you just did. You created a void around Rose that prevented her from interacting with the maneah close to her body. Because she was using that maneah, it caught her off guard and she had to readjust and reach out further to find more. It's a technique called reverse maneah control, because you're reversing the natural flow of the maneah in an area."

"I suppose that's what I did, then," I said with a shrug. "Sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to use you as a lab rat. It was just a fleeting idea-"

"Do it again," She said, interrupting me.

I looked around for a moment, and then shrugged and created another void around her.

"Extend it further."

I did, pushing the void out as far as I could manage, and Rose reached out with her maniah to manipulate the maneah further away from her body.

"My goddesses, he's actually doing it," She said after a few moments.

"That's insane. Even most Imperial Battlemages can't use that, but…"

They talked excitedly between themselves, but I didn't see what the big deal was. It wasn't difficult at all until I tried to make the maneah void much larger than a meter in diameter.

 _Wait a second…_

I realized immediately what my mistake was. I had been casting my maniah outwards in an attempt to influence things away from my body. In doing so, I was forcing Rose to reach out further with her own maniah, which drained more of her energy.

This time, I only interacted with the maneah closest to me. Doing so took far less energy and I was able to push the radius of the maneah void out twice as far.

 _This is it!_

"Riari, throw some lightning at me," I said, looking over at him.

"Wha-"

"Just do it. Don't ask questions."

He shrugged and fired a halfhearted bolt of lightning at me. I tensed as I waited for the sting, but the maneah fizzled and dissipated as it hit the void. Only the power of the maniah remained, which barely had enough energy to make my skin itch.

"What happened?" Riari asked.

"Do it again, but with more power," I said.

He charged up another bolt of lightning, actually using a significant amount of maniah this time. The maneah in our vicinity began to draw towards him as he amped up the amount of energy going into this next attack. Before letting it go, he looked at me questioningly. I nodded, and he shot the energy off again.

This time, the maneah didn't completely dissipate before reaching me. The impact knocked me back onto the ground and left a sizzling hole in my shirt, but didn't hurt nearly as bad as it should have. Riari was astonished when I hopped to my feet immediately.

"I've got it, guys," I said, grinning. "Let's go get some practice."

…

When we filed into the waiting room for the second round, the atmosphere was slightly more relaxed than it had been previously. Naturally, the room was significantly quieter, too. Our levels had been updated, and were scrolling across the screen in the hour before the first match started.

 _Rose Gahar, LVL 40(+1)_

 _HP: 43_

 _MP: 71_

 _STR 16(+1), SPD 25, END 15_

 _MAFF 46(+1), MRES 38, LUCK 17_

 _Riari Ioni, LVL 32_

 _HP: 36_

 _MP: 60_

 _STR 14, SPD 26, END 18(+1)_

 _MAFF 39, MRES 37, LUCK 19_

 _Link, LVL 29(+1)_

 _HP: 90_

 _MP: 99+_

 _STR 89, SPD 61, END 95_

 _MAFF 3(+1), MRES 6(+5), LUCK 41_

"That's not even fair," Rose grumbled. "Look how much Link's affinity and resistance went up in four days."

"They're still shit," Riari said, poking me in the ribs.

I grumbled, but I was secretly excited. I already knew why those scores had gone up, since I had been focusing mainly on my defensive abilities since I discovered that I could create maneah voids. Although I didn't feel overly comfortable with the next matchup, I figured I at least stood a slightly better choice with my new ability.

The matches started without much fanfare, although I noticed that most of the losing teams from the first round were now occupying the stands along with the administrators. All were watching intently as the She-Hau from Team 1, which had won the first match against Team 128, took the floor against Team 65.

The arena had been changed to an open sand pit with no cover. Both teams started at opposite ends of the pit while Team 1 chose its players, and then began. The battle lasted less than a minute due to the open battlefield, and Team 1 once again stood victorious.

"I just noticed something," Rose said halfway through the third battle. "We're slotted to fight Team 36, which only has two people. So one of us has to sit out."

I scrolled through the tournament bracket, confirming that she was right, and then looked up.

"I'll sit out, I guess," I said grudgingly. "I'm the weakest one here."

"On the contrary, I think I should sit out," Riari said. "I watched Team 36 in the first round and was impressed with their offensive capabilities. Between the two offensive magicians on this team, Rose is more powerful. But she'll need some defense against these two, and you'll do a good job of providing that."

It made sense to me, but I didn't know how comfortable I was tanking against powerful offensive magicians. My ability to create a void had only been used in practice so far, and my maniah shield couldn't take more than three hits from Team 29's members, who had been mainly defensive specialists. I would be lucky if I survived a single bolt from Team 36.

"Actually I think you and Riari should go," Rose said, much to my surprise.

"Why?" We both asked at the same time.

"Because your average level of 30.5 is 6 points lower than theirs. When you subtract one point for our size advantage, that still gives us a 5-point handicap. If I go with Link, we would absolutely have to win the match to advance. If you two go and hold your own, you could win anyways due to the handicap."

She had a point. The handicap had affected a number of decisions in the first round, and 5 points was significant. No team with a 6-point handicap over their opponent had failed to advance to the second round, and 5 was dangerously close to that number.

"I'm willing to give it a try," I said. Riari agreed, so we started discussing strategy.

When the 12th match of the round began, we were ushered into the pre-battle waiting room along with Team 36. I felt fairly comfortable by this point.

 _If we lose, we lose. At least we got through the first round and have a better chance to get through selections._

Secretly, though, I knew failure wasn't an option. The fact that I had been 'killed' in the first round was still bothering me. In a real life-or-death situation, the fact that Rose had ended up winning the battle was a moot point if I was dead.

When the 14th battle cued up, I found myself staring down what looked like a brother and sister in Team 36. They were small and scrawny, but I could see the immense amount of maneah affected by their presence in the area. They were powerful. Riari and I stepped forward when we were asked to select two team members.

"Very well," Heathrow said from his elevated podium. "Let the battle begin."

…

As in the previous matches of the second round, Riari and I were teleported to one side of the arena while Team 36 was placed on the other end. Rose left the floor to watch from the battle waiting room, and a timer counted down from ten.

When it hit 5, I drew the Master Sword and infused it with maneah. When it was glowing bright green, I allowed the energy to escape at the same rate it was being drawn in, causing the blade to light up with strange green flames.

"You ready?" Riari asked, his face set into a determined frown.

"Of course."

The clock hit one second, and I created a void around myself and formed my maniah shield with the energy of the Triforce. Right as I finished, the match began.

Black maneah bolts began pounding us immediately. Team 36 wasn't a joke, and I knew that this wasn't going to be easy. Fortunately, I found that their maneah was just as susceptible to the effects of my void as Rose and Riari's. Once I had determined that my defense was working, I leaped forwards and ran at a dead sprint towards Team 36.

Riari, on the other hand, had bolted for safety the second the match had started. As planned, he hit the ground and took cover from the maneah bolts sizzling the air around us. This entire plan depended on my maneah void working as I charged towards the other side of the arena.

The closer I got to Team 36, the more power I was able to draw from the Triforce. With that, I was able to push out the radius of my void and draw more maneah into the Master Sword. When I had covered half the distance to the other side, though, the barrage of maneah intensified and was focused solely on stopping me. The impacts were the equivalent of being punched each time a maneah bolt found its way to me, despite the increased radius of my void.

 _Faster._

I pushed my legs faster, ignoring the pain. I had dealt with worse, and this was what we had been waiting for. Once Team 36 had its attention fully focused on me, Riari stood up and released a devastating wave of lightning towards them. The female turned and deflected it, leaving a momentary gap in the onslaught of maneah bolts.

 _Now!_

I felt like I had never run this fast before. In the blink of an eye, I was only ten meters away from our two opponents. Their eyes went wide as they realized how fast I was running, but it was too late. I completely abandoned my maniah shield and used the energy to create a second void around the male. Riari then fully engaged the female with every ounce of his energy, so I ignored her and slammed into the male, who was still reeling from the sudden removal of his source of maneah.

I threw him to the ground and drove the Master Sword down towards his throat, but he was quick enough to roll to the side. I didn't let him recover, though, stabbing at his leg and finding my target. He yelped in surprise and tried to charge a maneah bolt, but was too slow reaching through the void for maneah. I released the built-up energy in the Master Sword as I swung it down towards him, blasting out a hole in the sand and causing him to teleport from the arena.

Riari faltered just as I defeated my opponent, though, and the remaining member of Team 36 overpowered him. Before she was able to finish him, though, I moved my second void over her. It would have made Riari's attacks ineffective earlier, but it didn't matter now since he was focused on defending himself.

The sister didn't have much trouble adapting her maneah to the void, but it did cause a noticeable drop in her maneah output and had the added effect of drawing her attention to me. I could feel my maniah reserves draining rapidly, and knew I needed to act now.

I charged again, covering the few meters between us in just over a second. My opponent reached out with her maniah and threw a bolt of energy at me, but it felt weaker than before. Even without my maniah shield to absorb the impact, it didn't hurt any worse. She stumbled backwards as I appeared practically on top of her, joining the two voids into a single larger one.

The match ended when I smashed the hilt of the Master Sword into her face hard enough to 'kill' her. She teleported out before any actual damage was done, leaving Riari and me as the only ones standing.

 _Well, maybe I'm the only one standing._ I thought, looking over at where Riari had collapsed. That aside, he had survived the battle despite us being at a 5-point disadvantage.

"Team 100 wins the match by points and kills," Heathrow said from his floating platform. "Winners, you will be teleported out now."

I appeared in the battle waiting room to a very excited Rose.

"You did it!"

Riari teleported in next, falling unconscious the moment his feet touched the floor. I caught him before he fell, and nodded towards the door. Rose opened it, and I walked out carrying Riari on my shoulders. As had happened after the first round with Team 29, we came face to face with Team 36.

"How did you do that?" The female asked.

I stared at her for a moment, deciding the best way to deflect.

"Do what?"

"You know exactly what the hell I'm talking about," She said, obviously not the slightest bit deterred. "You can create voids."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Do you think I'm so stupid as to believe that was an accident? Most Imperial Battlemages can't create voids, much less some unknown Candidate with the lowest affinity and magical defense scores of the class. So how the hell-"

"Hey!"

Three guards came out of the waiting room behind me to accost the female from Team 36.

"You lost, get over it," One of them said, pointing towards the exit. "If you can't accept that, you need to get out of the building."

The girl huffed and turned around, walking to her seat and sitting down quietly. The guards eyed me curiously, but slipped back into the battle waiting room without another word.

"All bark and no bite, apparently." Rose said, just loud enough for her to hear.

I shook my head and laid Riari down in our corner of the mass waiting room. It took him an hour of rest to wake up, and the matches were nearly over by that point. It was just past midday when the 32nd match concluded and Team 82's lone wolf stood victorious.

"Candidates, you may return to your rooms now. Since many of you were injured, there will be a fourth day of rest before the third round. Enjoy your time off. The losers of today's matches are free to do as they desire until next week, when the selections are announced."

I sighed, glad that the round was over. The battle had taken its toll on me again, although I hadn't expended all of my maniah and was therefore still able to function.

I noticed that many of the candidates were staring at me as we made our way through the still city streets to the hotel. Apparently I had made an impression on them.

"That's maybe not a good thing," Rose said when I mentioned it. "But it is what it is."

"They're probably staring at his damn muscles," Riari grumbled quietly.

I grinned and dragged him into the hotel, where I spent the rest of the day napping and eating everything I could get my hands on.

Late in the evening, just as I was lying down in my bed to sleep, a knock broke the silence of the dark room. I bolted upright, alarmed at the intrusion. Nobody had come to visit us yet.

Rose was still out in the city somewhere, and Riari was fast asleep, so I crept to the door. A dark-haired female covered by a hood was waiting outside.

"Who are you?" I called out, leaving the door bolted.

"Imperial Battlemage," She said, her voice surprisingly smooth. "I'm here to speak with Link White."

I was hesitant to open the door, but figured a battlemage could blow it off its hinges anyways. When I finally poked my head out, I was taken aback by the amount of maneah flowing around the strange woman in the hallway.

"How can I help you?" I asked curiously, hoping I wasn't about to be dragged out and killed. I wouldn't have stood a chance if she wanted to.

She stared at me for a few moments, her expression unreadable under the darkness of her hood. Finally she spoke up.

"I thought it was you."

I peered at her.

"Have we met?"

She nodded.

"Briefly. I know who you are, Link, though you will not remember me. Most here don't give current events the time of day, but I recognize the queen's most trusted guard and the Navy's best sniper when I see him."

"I'm afraid the fact that you know me from the outside is a problem. I'm an Outlier here, and I'm trying to keep that quiet among the other candidates."

"Do not presume that your status as an Outlier merits any real significance until those candidates feel threatened by you," She said. "That aside, I have something I'd like to speak to you about. If you have a moment, that is."

I knew immediately that it didn't matter if I had a moment or not. She was going to speak to me either way.

"Come in, I suppose."

I opened the door all the way and let her in, ushering her to the balcony so that we wouldn't disturb Riari. When we were outside, she lowered her hood and turned towards me. I was struck with her appearance. She bore a striking resemblance to Zelda, although her hair was pitch-black and her eyes red. She didn't look to be much older than me.

"I suppose we've never had time for a proper introduction," She said. "My name is Hilda. I'm a King's Arm Battlemage that's been assigned to watch candidates as they go through the Continent of Tests. Due to that position, I was present during your battle today.

"Needless to say, I was impressed with your ability to create a void. Not only that, but once you abandoned your defense you were able to create two different voids and maintain them both while in close combat. I understand that you're already extremely experienced in combat, though, so I'm not entirely surprised."

She paused for a moment, giving me a hard look.

"What I saw today was rough, but it wasn't something a candidate who just discovered a new magical world two weeks ago should be capable of. You're learning to use magic at a blistering pace, and I think you need to be trained so that you know how to control it. I'm convinced that you can become one of the strongest battlemages to ever come out of the Gauntlet if you have good teachers."

"So what are you getting at?" I asked.

"I'm asking you to join my faction and be properly trained," She replied.

I stared at her for a moment, confused.

"I guess I'm not surprised that the battlemages have factions, but can you explain them to me?" I asked after a moment.

She nodded.

"As I said, I'm a member of King's Arm. The other two reputable factions are Winged Tree and Death's Messengers. We all focus on different aspects of the magical world, but ultimately aim to serve Hyrule and the royal family. There are other… less reputable factions. The only one you're likely to run into is M80."

"What makes M80 so unsavory?" I asked.

"They have different goals. Namely they disapprove of magicians cooperating with the Hylian Empire, and aim to sever that connection. You may see one or two administrators from them, so be prepared."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out," I said. "But why are you in here trying to recruit me? My two teammates are far more powerful and would probably respond better to training."

"Your two teammates are Elites." Hilda said with a shrug. "The five families couldn't have any less of an interest in the factions. They work with us, but don't see organizations outside of their ranks as worth dealing with. Furthermore, even if your teammates would give me the time of day, I would still seek to recruit you. The blistering pace at which you learn to use magic hasn't been matched in several centuries here on the Gauntlet."

I doubted that, but didn't say anything. This sounded like a typical recruiting scheme.

"What's the goal of King's Arm, then?" I asked.

"We are the backbone of the Hylian military's magical might," Hilda said. "As a King's Arm Battlemage, you operate from within the military and assist where needed. As you've seen throughout your career, we don't surface very often. That's due in part to our limited numbers, but also because we only show up in times of dire need. Such as when a Black Ops sniper is stuck underneath a kilometer-wide artillery barrage."

Suddenly the gears clicked and I knew why I recognized her.

"It was _you_ ," I said, peering at her.

"It was indeed," Hilda replied. "I was in the area because I sensed your… peculiar magical energy. Then you called in for help and I decided to break cover. I'm also rather curious as to why the nature of your maniah has changed so drastically."

"It's a long story," I said, shrugging. "I don't particularly care to go into it."

"Very well, I'll respect your privacy," She replied. "Give some thought to my offer. I'll come back after the third round and answer any questions you have. I will also sweeten the deal by guaranteeing your team's selection to continue to the next round of tests if you decide to join us."

"I'll be honest, don't count on it," I said. "I might have questions, but I'm not going to commit to making a decision."

"That's fine. You're facing Team 4 next, right?"

I nodded.

"They have 5 members, and are considered to be one of the most powerful teams in this tournament," Hilda said. "Let me train you for the next few days, and you can see for yourself if you need King's Arm."

I pondered the offer for a moment, and then nodded. Being trained certainly wouldn't hurt my chances, and I had been nervous about fighting Team 4 anyways.

"I don't see any reason to turn down free training," I said. "When and where?"

"I'll come get you in the morning," Hilda replied.

I nodded again and opened the door, ushering her into the room and to the front door. As she walked out, I stopped her.

"I never had a chance to say thank you," I said. "You saved my life, and I won't forget that."

Hilda nodded, and then left without another word.

…

 **Delays, I know. I got married and moved in the past couple months, so you guys will have to give me a pass on this one. Let me know what you think.**


	22. Pt 2 Ch 7 - The Continent of Tests 3

Part 2 Chapter 7

As promised, Hilda arrived the next morning and led me to some corner of the small city. There, we entered a building covered by several red and white banners.

"The lion is the symbol of King's Arm," Hilda explained, pointing at the sigil in the middle of the banner. "Red and white are our official colors, but oftentimes you will see our members wearing purple cloaks to symbolize our connection to the Royal Family. This building is a training facility dedicated to those undergoing testing, and the candidates I have trained here have never once failed to move to the Second Continent."

I nodded, hoping that trend would continue. She led me into a large training room that was almost as big as the building had looked on the outside.

"It's magically enhanced," Hilda said. "Some battlemages have ways to 'borrow' space, and use that method to build facilities larger than physical limits allow."

I was fascinated with the concept, but I knew my time was limited. It wouldn't do any good to ask questions that weren't focused on training for the next battle. When we reached the middle of the room, Hilda turned to me.

"Team 4 is tough, but so are you," she said. "Your team didn't make it to the third round because of dumb luck. After two days of training, I can guarantee you will win the third round."

"What do I need to do?" I asked simply.

"Just listen carefully."

…

By the time our two days of training were finished, I was completely wiped out. I had reached a new level of tired. Never before in any of my training had I lost track of who I was or what I was doing, but by the second evening I only remembered being dropped onto my bed by some unknown King's Arm battlemage. Riari wasn't able to wake me for twelve hours, and even then I was barely able to move.

"What did they do to you?" Rose asked, worried.

"Nothing harmful," I groaned pitifully.

"You don't sound very convincing."

"Whatever."

"We have the third round tomorrow," Riari added. "I don't think you'll recover quick enough to be much use, but Team 4 has four people in it. You have to be able to fight."

"I'll fight," I said. "I just need to get some food."

I staggered out of bed, somehow managing to put on clothing before making my way into the city. I staggered several times, but that didn't catch much attention from the other candidates walking around. We were all exhausted and in search of food. Something about using magic made me want to eat.

As I sat in a run-down burger joint, I had time to think back to my home in Castle. Malon, of course, was a centerpiece of that home, and I missed her more now than I had yet. It was worse knowing that she would have no idea I was gone. For her, my disappearance would just be a few days of travel into the outer colonies. While I was glad she wouldn't suffer, I couldn't help but feel alone.

I wasn't alone, though. I was surrounded by teenagers that were all trying to kill each other for a country they knew nothing about. My own teammates were fascinated by my expansive knowledge of Hylian history, and it made me realize that they were raised for the singular purpose of fighting. It was a culture I didn't understand or agree with, but that didn't make it any less real. Most of these kids would die on the Gauntlet without experiencing the outside world and its many pleasures. Even if they made it out, battlemages were in combat until a time that they could no longer physically keep up. By that point, they were too old to get married and have kids. Only the elite families focused on passing down magical lines, and they were extremely selective.

It was a sad reality that I had already come to accept.

The food made me feel slightly better, but only enough that I could walk in a straight line. I was slightly aware of Rose and Riari walking with me, but nothing else. When I got back to bed, I vaguely heard a knock at the door. Moments later, I was asleep again.

…

The moment I stepped into the arena with Team 4's most powerful members, I felt alive. The maneah in the arena split into voids at the slightest brush of my thoughts, and I was able to simply walk towards my opponents without taking a single hit. While I did so, my teammates rained death from behind.

Team 4 fell without hitting any of us a single time.

When I returned to the waiting room, the dwindling crowd of candidates looked on in shock. I was well aware of what that fight had looked like.

 _I looked untouchable._

Team 4 had been one of the leading teams predicted to win the finals, at a betting rate of 1 to 4. Now they had been crushed by a smaller, lower-ranked team that had won the past two battles on luck. After watching Team 45 barely win the next match, I decided that it was time to leave.

Rose and Riari were both in shock as we walked the city streets. Neither of them had expected the blowout victory we had just achieved, and they certainly couldn't comprehend the drastic increase in my abilities in just a few short days.

As we sat down at the most deserted restaurant we could find, Riari finally spoke up.

"Link, are we going to get some sort of explanation of what that was?"

I shook my head.

"I wish I could tell you. It was like everything Hilda was trying to teach me over the past few days suddenly clicked. Until we went into the arena, I thought we were done for."

"And yet you're suddenly looking like the leading battlemage candidate," Rose said.

"Hardly," I replied. "Keep in mind that I have exactly one useful magical skill. It helped us get through the second and third rounds, but now we have the attention of every other remaining team. Someone is going to find a way to counter my ability."

"On the contrary, I don't know if your ability can be countered." Rose said. "Even the vast knowledge of the Gahar falls short explaining why certain battlemages are able to create voids when most can't. It's even more lacking in how to combat these voids with magic."

"Artillery is a great solution to that problem," I said with a shrug.

My teammates were silent for a moment as they mulled over the inclusion of conventional weapons more than I had intended them to.

"Would that really work?" Riari asked.

I sighed.

"Artillery will blow your body into tiny pieces whether you're using a shield or not. Sure, you can create a shield thick enough to stop the actual projectile, but the blast overpressure will still liquefy your insides."

We talked for a while longer, eventually moving off the topic of our upset victory. When we had eaten our fill, we went back to the hotel to hide from the other candidates. They would be looking for us soon. It was amazing how much more attention they paid to me now that our team was a serious contender. Suddenly I had candidates trying to be my friend, and at least a dozen had outright asked me if I was the outlier. Most of them had figured it out by this point.

The concept of being an outlier seemed so foreign at this point. I felt just like any other candidate, although Hilda assured me there were certain rules I didn't have to follow.

At first I had been confused over the concept of rules. It seemed like anyone could break a rule, but I had soon realized that these 'rules' were actually tenets of the use of maniah. The rules of magic couldn't be broken any more than the laws of physics, though they could be manipulated to perform specific functions. The most powerful battlemages were able to manipulate the rules in thousands of different interacting ways, although such skilled men and women were far and few between. Even fewer of those who could manipulate the rules so efficiently were actually interested in combat operations.

Fortunately, I wouldn't have to manipulate rules to become a powerful battlemage. I just didn't have to follow them. It was the equivalent of breaking the laws of physics and dropping an apple upwards. I was still wrapping my mind around that concept when I heard a knock at my door. I wasn't surprised to see Hilda.

"Do you understand what you're capable of?" She asked, cutting straight to the point.

I nodded.

"Will you continue your training?"

I had already pondered this question, and the answer wasn't hard. Hilda and, to a degree, the King's Arm, had taken an interest in me and provided the tools necessary to advance in the competition. Without the training I had received for the past few days, I felt certain Team 4 would have defeated us.

"I will."

"Good, I'll see you after the tournament is over."

I peered at her curiously.

"What about the next round? I'm not guaranteed to advance yet."

"You have been trained as much as can be safely accomplished without legitimate rest. Maniah regenerates slowly, and if we force your body to absorb it as quickly as we did last night again you will likely die."

 _Last night?_ I wondered, unsure of when I had seen her since training ended.

"Very well," I replied, shrugging. "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing. I will come find you when the time is right. In the meantime, train as hard as you can and work your way up the rankings."

With that, Hilda turned and walked down the hall. As she walked away, I was struck with a sense of nostalgia. Even the way she walked was similar to Zelda. Once I had reminisced for a moment, I turned and went back into the room.

I stayed up and spoke with Rose and Riari for a while longer, but eventually I laid down in bed and contemplated everything that had happened. I didn't care about winning the tournament, I just wanted to advance through the Continent of Tests.

 _One more round._

…

As it turned out, there was a week of rest in between the third and fourth rounds. It was a fortunate break at a time when I needed it most. I was acutely aware of the attention I was receiving when I went out into the city. The extreme rate at which my magical affinity had risen and my unique ability to create voids had drawn a lot of attention, and I was going to have to get over it.

 _So what if they know? It doesn't affect very much._ I thought to myself as I sat in the corner of a local restaurant. A group of washed out candidates had been eyeing me from across the room, and even the Zora waiter knew who I was.

I wasn't unfamiliar with attention. Before my abrupt introduction to the SSC, I had become a rather high-profile figure within the military for capturing a King's Collective frigate and facilitating the destruction of a destroyer. In fact, the reason I had gone to Castle in the first place was because I had been nominated for the highest award for valor in the Hylian Military. That alone brought enormous amounts of attention.

This attention was different, though. It was calculating, if not outright hostile. The other candidates were already scheming to get me out of the competition through any means necessary. In the military it was about helping each other to accomplish a common goal, whereas on the Guantlet we were all trying to come out on top.

I knew better, though. My teammates had always been the key to my success, and this would be no different.

I left the city limits after I finished eating, curious as to what lay outside. I had had several ideas for new ways to manipulate maneah that would require solitude and secrecy, so this doubled as a good time to practice. Many of the ideas ended up as failures, but one stood out.

I found a nice section in the woods and drew my sword, holding it above my head and taking a deep breath. Throwing my sword was something I had worked on before, but using maniah to guide and push it was not. Before I lost my original magical abilities, I had used them extensively to push thrown projectiles faster and more accurately, but never with a weapon as large as a sword.

Maneah manipulation was more difficult than using magic, although the outcome was the same. To a casual observer and even a basic magician, both tactics looked exactly the same. In fact, I hadn't even realized there was a difference until Rose told me. Learning to manipulate maneah with maniah was the hardest way to employ magical energy, but it was far more powerful than conventional methods.

It was an added benefit that maneah manipulation didn't have a mind of its own, whispering to me day and night in an attempt to get me to assassinate Zelda and overthrow Hyrule. That was nice.

I heaved the Master Sword at a tree roughly thirty meters away and quickly twisted the maneah in its path to push it faster. The first few attempts were rough, but eventually I got the hang of it and moved on to the next step.

Many of the more defensive candidates were able to create physical barriers out of maneah. Team 84's two members could create fairly robust barriers while maintaining high offensive capabilities, which would prevent me from using my favorite "void charge" tactic, as Riari had so accurately named it.

On my next throw, I created a void in the minimum diameter required to allow the sword through. I would have liked to practice on an actual physical barrier, but neither of my teammates could make one and I knew better than to ask someone else.

The Master Sword passed through the void without incident, lodging itself firmly in a tree. I spent the next several hours practicing the same throw, until I was sweating from the effort and no longer had the strength in my shoulder to continue. I switched to my left arm and threw, just to see if I could do it, and realized I had made a terrible mistake when the sword ended up buried halfway up the blade in a tree that I had definitely not been aiming at.

 _How did I even put this much energy into an off-handed throw?_ I wondered, staring at the masterpiece of my off-handed ineptitude. A few hard tugs told me that it wasn't going to dislodge itself from the tree, so I stepped back and stared for a few seconds.

I was about to go get Rose to burn down the tree when I had an idea.

 _Can voids affect the physical world?_

It didn't take me long to find out.

…

The days leading up to the fourth round were a buzz of activity. Camera crews appeared out of nowhere, and there were now four times as many administrators attending the battles. It dawned on me at some point that this tournament was the highlight of the Continent of Tests. The different factions were here to find potential recruits, and the Elite families would be watching their children.

Most notably, a delegate of the Gahar Family came to town the day before the battles started. Although the Gahar had no biological relationship with each other, Rose told me that he was one of the patriarchs. Unbeknownst to me, one of the two guys in Team 84 was a Gahar family member, and this fight had become highly anticipated. According to Rose, only one of the two Gahar would be kept in the family after the Gauntlet. She had to fight in this round to prove herself.

The Ioni had several different administrators in the crowd as well, but Riari wasn't too keen on fighting for the family he seemed to have cut ties with. It was quickly decided that I would take the second slot in the battle, which I was more than happy to do. I wanted to test some of my new abilities in actual combat.

Several camera crews tried to stop me for an interview, forcing me to start wearing my cloak with the hood up. That trick took them less than an hour to figure out. One of them even started asking me how it felt to be the Outlier as I walked away.

Finally I resorted to hiding in my hotel room, which worked well enough. The reporters and camera crews weren't allowed in the building, so I stayed there for the remainder of the time until I needed to leave for the tournament. Several of the other 16 teams practiced well into the night, but I took the chance to rest. Rose and I talked through our battle plan several times, although I didn't tell her about what I had been working on. I wasn't sure it was going to make a difference in this fight, anyways.

Finally the time for the battles came, and I was ushered through the streets to the arena by a group of very agitated guards. This time, however, we were taken to a private room to prepare for the battle. Ours was the fourth, and apparently this stage was going to be quite a bit larger with more concealment.

Our levels scrolled across the TV screen as we were waiting, and I got to check my progress.

 _Rose Gahar, LVL 40_

 _HP: 43_

 _MP: 71_

 _STR 17(+1), SPD 25, END 16(+1)_

 _MAFF 46, MRES 38, LUCK 17_

 _Riari Ioni, LVL 33(+1)_

 _HP: 36_

 _MP: 60_

 _STR 15(+1), SPD 27(+1), END 18_

 _MAFF 39, MRES 37, LUCK 19  
_

 _Link, LVL 33(+4)  
HP: 90  
MP: 99+  
STR 89, SPD 61, END 95  
MAFF 15(+12), MRES 9(+3), LUCK 41_

It took me a moment to comprehend that I had raised my magical affinity by 12 points in a week, but I knew it was because of the training Hilda had put me through. Furthermore, I had developed several new abilities that increased my ability to control maneah, as well as increased the size and emptiness of the voids I could create.

Rose grinned, but said nothing. My magical affinity was still pathetic, but at least I had other strengths. Team 84's stats came up immediately after mine.

 _Viktor Gahar, LVL 40  
HP: 67  
MP: 62  
STR 35, SPD 39, END 31  
MAFF 38, MRES 42, LUCK 12_

 _Inglet Ioni, LVL 36  
HP: 51  
MP: 59  
STR 19, SPD 21, END 14  
MAFF 35, MRES 36, LUCK 18_

The level difference actually put a 1.5 point handicap in our favor, which meant we were expected to lose the fight on an even playing field. That being said, I didn't plan on trusting the handicap to push us to the next round and guaranteed advancement through the Continent of Tests. I wanted to win the fight.

The first fight, between teams 1 and 81, kicked off. The new field took up the entire arena, and was completely urban. The only open area was a four-lane road running through the center of the buildings. I didn't plan on fighting Team 84 on open ground, though, so it wasn't a problem.

As always, Team 1 won the fight easily. They were a perfect example of the tenacity of the She-Hau, working perfectly off of each other's strengths and weaknesses regardless of team members or size. They were the team to beat, but it looked like nobody would. If we somehow made it through the next two rounds, we would face them in the semifinals.

It was a problem I didn't have time to worry about for now. The next two battles passed in the blink of an eye, although it took over half the day. There was an hour break between each one for the arena to be repaired, which meant I didn't find myself standing in the private waiting area until well after noon. Heathrow stared down at me with his normal disdain for my existence.

"Team 84 has two members, so only two of you will be allowed to fight," He said. "Have you decided amongst yourselves who will represent the team?"

Rose and I both stepped forward, and Heathrow scowled.

"Very well. The battle will start in five minutes, so make any final preparations and be ready to teleport."

We nodded, and he walked into the other room to talk to Team 84.

"Does he look at everyone like that, or is just me?" I asked.

"It's just you," Riari said, laughing to himself. "And pretty much any other candidate outside the families. But especially you, since you're an Outlier."

I sighed, not sure what I had been expecting.

"You guys are good?" Riari asked, changing the subject. He looked more nervous than I felt.

"Yeah, I'm not too worried," I replied. "I doubt they're going to cut anyone who made it this far, even if we lose."

Rose nodded, although she was obviously nervous. She had a lot at stake.

"We'll be fine," I said in an attempt to reassure her.

We said nothing else, instead waiting for the beginning of the match in silence. We had already formed a plan and several different contingencies while watching the other matches, and there was nothing else to talk about.

Heathrow's voice bled through the walls as he announced the next match, and I heard the roar of the crowd. It occurred to me then that this was the closest these people could get to the gladiator matches of millennia past. The battlemages may have been more apt with magic, but they were no different than average Hylians when it came to human instincts.

Rose and I were teleported out to the arena floor, and the battle began.

…

It took us only five minutes to find Team 84. They had taken up a station at the end of the central street, brazenly exposing themselves as if inviting an ambush.

"This is a trap," Rose said as we peered at them from a distant window.

"Definitely."

We stared for a few more minutes, perplexed as to what to do. We could certainly walk out into the street and have a battle in the open, but I knew we would lose that one. Our other option was to attack from hiding, but I knew our opponents expected that and had likely prepared.

That left me at a complete loss as to what to do. I had never faced an enemy so bold as to sit in the open when there was so much cover in the area. Of course, as a sniper I had usually had the advantage of surprise, but no enemy soldier in his right mind ever stayed in an exposed area once I made my presence known.

The problem was that my magical attacks likely weren't enough to affect either of our opponents. My strength since coming to the Gauntlet was closing in on enemies and using physical force enhanced with maniah to win the fight. With a candidate as strong as a Gahar, I couldn't rush in like that. My general plan had been to catch Team 84 while they were transitioning to a new location, which would give us the element of surprise.

The good news was that these matches no longer had a time limit. They could go on for days if necessary, and according to Rose they had been known to do so. That was why the first three rounds had a time limit and a generally open playing field. The tournament would take months if they didn't.

Rose and I moved to a different building to get a better view of Team 84. It took twenty minutes to get to the other side of the main street unseen, and they still hadn't moved. In fact, they were sitting down with their backs to a wall having a nice conversation.

"What the hell are they doing?" Rose whispered.

"It's a mind game," I replied. "They're trying to taunt us out of hiding, since they know that's where we have the advantage."

"We should just blow up the whole area they're standing in," Rose growled.

"Patience. That won't work."

She sighed.

"Fine, but what are our other options?"

I pulled her back before she poked her head up in the window frame and made her sit down in the back of the room.

"Never put your face right in front of the window," I reminded her. "Stand about ten feet back so they can't see you. As for what we're going to do…"

A tiny black drone flitted in through the window and fixed its camera on us. I was surprised that it had taken this long for the camera crews to find us, but also pleased. Apparently we had been concealing our presence well.

I ushered Rose into another room and shut the door so the drone's microphone didn't pick up our voices.

"I've got a plan, and I don't want to drag this fight on forever."

She nodded.

"Tell me."

I explained my plan, and she nodded in agreement. Afterwards, she made her way back into the room with the window to observe. I walked downstairs and out the door, slipping between buildings and closer to the street. Once I had worked my way around to the other side of the road, I got into a position where I could see Team 84.

They weren't showing any indications that they had noticed one of us, and neither of them had moved in the last half hour. That was a mistake on their part, since it gave me the opportunity to pick my target.

The second member of Team 84, Inglet Ioni, was drastically smaller than his teammate, and I knew he wouldn't fare well in hand-to-hand combat. After watching several of his last battles, I knew that he would do everything he could to keep opponents at a distance, while Viktor Gahar was more willing to get close.

I had given Rose a time limit to attack, and she followed it perfectly. Exactly 45 minutes from the time I left, she released an enormous blast of fire magic from the building we had been observing from. As expected, Team 84 jumped up and deflected the magic with relative ease, but she didn't stop there. Bolts of maneah rained down on them with reckless abandon, and I knew my time was now.

Without losing so much focus that I released a detectable maniah signature, I broke from hiding and drew my sword. The onslaught wouldn't last long, so I covered the distance between myself and Team 84 as fast as possible. Rose stopped attacking as I broke free of the cover of the buildings, and Team 84 focused all of their attention on counterattacking.

The idea of the attack was for Rose to use a lot of maniah at once to convince Team 84 that we were both attacking from the same location. It seemed to work well enough. They both returned fire on the building, blowing a huge chunk away.

The crowd roared loud enough that I could hear through the barrier, motivating me to run faster. I was nearly on top of Inglet before he heard me, turning around at the last second and managing to throw up a barrier between us.

I had prepared for this, though. I created a void in the middle of his barrier, driving my sword through it and ramming it through his shoulder. At this point, Viktor noticed the commotion and turned around.

"What the-" He started, but was interrupted by another attack from Rose. For now, this would be between myself and the Ioni.

He yelped as I yanked the Master Sword out of his shoulder, and I noticed that blood was running down his shirt.

 _Was that not enough of an injury to teleport him out?!_

I closed the distance before he had time to let loose a serious attack and swung again. This time he nimbly sidestepped my attack and threw a bolt of lightning at me. I created a void just in time, letting the energy dissipate before it hit me with the force of a heavy punch.

I recovered quickly, making sure Inglet didn't move far. He had just enough time to throw another bolt of lightning, which I threw up my sword to block in a moment of panic. The attack deflected into a nearby building and blew the entire second floor to pieces.

 _Faster._

I ducked underneath another attack before realizing Inglet was too good to allow me to catch up to him again. I would have to use the skill I had been working on.

I drew back my arm and lobbed the Master Sword as hard as I could, using maneah to push it faster and opening a void around Inglet. He tried to dodge, but the shock wave from one of Rose's maneah bolts knocked him back into the way of my attack. As soon as the tip of the blade hit Inglet's chest, he disappeared with a small pop.

Viktor Gahar blew up another building and turned to face me. I had taken a risk by throwing my sword, and it was about to backfire. In a moment of desperation, I twisted the maneah around the Master Sword and pulled it back into my hand. That trick had never worked before, but somehow I made it happen in the heat of the moment.

The strongest void I could create still wasn't enough to stop Viktor Gahar's powerful bolt of electricity. The impact sent me flying backwards into a wall, and I felt at least one rib fracture as I collapsed to the ground. To my surprise, I wasn't teleported out.

Rose had either been caught up in the last explosion or hadn't made her way to a new position. Regardless, I was on my own for the moment. We had planned for her to fight Viktor since they were the ones being evaluated by the ruling family, but I wasn't going to stand idly by when victory meant automatic advancement.

I crawled to my feet and mentally focused. It seemed that the standard for teleportation out of this match was much higher. In the past three matches I would have been teleported out before hitting the wall, and Inglet wouldn't have been allowed to take my sword through the shoulder.

Viktor didn't give me a chance to rest. I had to step out of the way of another bolt of lightning, at which point he doused me in flames. Fortunately, they dissipated quickly in the void I created and didn't have the impact force of other forms of magic. I rolled behind a wall while the smoke cleared and made my way over to a position with better concealment.

When I turned around the nearest corner and readied myself to cast another void, I was startled to be staring right into Viktor Gahar's eyes. He had easily picked up on where I would appear, and was waiting for me there.

The lightning bolt he unleashed towards my chest had enough force to destroy a building, but somehow I managed to put the Master Sword in front of it. His attack was reflected back into his face, sending him flying nearly fifteen meters to the other side of the street and merely knocking me onto my back.

The attack didn't seem to be enough to teleport Viktor out of the arena, though, so I staggered to my feet and fought off the pain from my ribs. I could barely force myself to breathe, but I had to finish this fight. No amount of pain could stop me.

Rose staggered out into the street and looked around, seeing Viktor in a quivering heap on the ground. She stared for a few moments, and then looked over at me.

"Sorry," I gasped, barely able to speak. "He…"

"Don't worry, I know," She replied simply. I felt bad for fighting her fight, but there weren't many other options.

Viktor wasn't done, though. He crawled to his feet and fired a few more bolts of lightning at me. I was barely able to dodge by this point, and had very little success in deflecting another attack with the Master Sword. All I could do was create voids and find better cover.

The massive outburst of maneah left Viktor panting in exhaustion, but he still had energy left to charge towards Rose and deflect several of her attacks in the process. This was likely his final burst of effort before he ran out of maniah, so I steeled myself and charged towards him as Rose fought off his attacks.

"Stay back, Link!" Rose yelled.

I paused, but eventually retreated into a nearby building. At some point, I would have to trust Rose's ability to fight on her own.

The fight went on for at least a minute before I realized I had almost run into something over my head. I was able to hold my own, but getting in the crosshairs of two Gahar was a death wish.

After a particularly large explosion, I dared to poke my head around the corner and see what was going on. It seemed that Rose and Viktor were on equal footing despite the injury I had inflicted on him. In fact, it looked like Viktor was still better. He was immensely larger than Rose, and had been working his way closer to her as their fight progressed.

"Rose, watch out!"

I was too late, though. She had been so caught up in fending off Viktor's maneah attacks that she didn't notice he was moving closer. He was on top of her in the blink of an eye, overpowering her easily and throwing her to the ground.

 _Fuck!_

I wouldn't stand by any longer. The family feud between these two didn't matter when compared to my mission.

I slammed into Viktor from the side, stopping him from landing a fourth blow on Rose. She was bleeding profusely from her mouth, and several teeth were missing.

 _This asshole._

A surge of rage ran through my body, and I could no longer feel my broken rib. Viktor turned to face me, and I poured all of my murderous energy into a single powerful void in the center of his body. He dropped like a rock, landing on the concrete with a solid thump.

I stared for a second, confused. The void was one I had worked on throughout the week after discovering that I could interfere with physical properties by altering and increasing my maniah input. It would quite effectively erase whatever I created it around. The downside was that it used a ton of maniah and could only be cast in an area several centimeters in diameter.

I had cast the void directly in the center of Viktor's chest where his heart should be. That alone should have been enough to trigger the arena's teleportation. A three-centimeter sphere at that location should have been fatal damage, but Viktor was still in the arena.

"Is he…" Rose coughed out, spitting blood all over the ground.

"I don't know," I said, staring. "Shouldn't he be…"

The barrier around the arena came down, and the crowd was deathly quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the fourth fight," Heathrow said through the microphone. "The second half of the fourth round will start tomorrow morning."

I blinked, and I was back in the private waiting room. Riari was staring at us in horror.

"Link, what did you do?!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused as to why he was so shocked.

"Can you… Did you just kill him? Because he looks dead."

I didn't know, so I just stared at the video feed.

"What I did should have made him teleport out, but he didn't." I replied. "I don't know if he's dead or not."

There was a commotion outside the door, and it burst open to reveal a livid Heathcliff.

"What have you _done_?!" He screamed, slamming the door shut behind him. "I barely tolerated your presence before this. Now you've found a way around our safety net and murdered a Gahar. Do you have any idea what's going to happen now?!"

 _So I did kill him._

"Look," I said, holding my hands out in surrender. "It's not my fault your teleportation didn't-"

"I won't hear it!" Heathrow yelled. "Your unnatural powers have no place in-"

The door opened again, revealing a familiar face.

"Heathrow, Link is a member of King's Arm. We will take care of this."

Heathrow opened his mouth to object, but Hilda shot him an icy glare.

"Leave," She said firmly.

He complied, obviously not looking to fight a real battlemage. Once he had left the room, Hilda turned to me.

"What did you do?" She asked. "All we saw in the crowd was that you cast some sort of spell in his direction, and then he dropped."

"I just… I created a void," I said. "I figured out how to affect matter with a void last week, and I used it to end the fight."

Hilda sighed.

"This is my fault. I should have stayed in contact with you so that nothing like this happened. This is going to blow up in your face if you stay here. Let's go."

"Away from here?" I asked.

"Yes, we're taking you off the Continent of Tests and moving you ahead. Come on, we need to go."

I looked back at Riari and Rose, who were both staring at me in shock.

"But-"

"No, your teammates need to stay. The Gahar are going to come after you now, and they don't need to get caught up in the fallout. They both have a lot to lose."

Hilda caught my arm and pulled me through the door with surprising strength. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to my team.

We ran down the hall and into a discreet room where several purple-cloaked figures were running around. One of them started casting a spell into my ribs, causing my fracture to heal in a matter of seconds.

"Here," Hilda said, rummaging around in a box in the corner and retrieving a purple cloak with a hood. "You need to blend in, and nobody is going to mess with the King's Arm. Put this on."

I looked at my ratty gray-and-green cloak for a few seconds, and then grimaced and tossed it aside for the new one. If the Gahar were after me, I would need to do everything in my power to stay under the radar.

"I need you to roll with everything that's about to happen," Hilda said once I had secured the new cloak. "We're getting a ship ready for you right now, and it's absolutely imperative that we get out of here in case the Gahar decide to come after you. You won't stand a chance against the one who was in the audience."

It was harsh, but Hilda was probably right.

"So what's going to happen to me?" I asked.

"King's Arm has enough clout within the Gauntlet to advance you to the Marathon, as it's called."

"The next continent?"

Hilda nodded.

"Despite the unfortunate outcome, you and your team still advanced to the next round. What they didn't tell you is that there are only four rounds in the tournament, with eight teams being guaranteed advancement at the end and the rest being relegated to a selection board. You effectively won the event, which is the last cutting phase on the Continent of Tests. You were guaranteed advancement no matter what, so it's a small matter to speed up the process due to an emergency."

"So the tournament wasn't meant to find a 'best team,' per se?" I asked.

"No, not at all. After the fourth round is over, the selection board convenes and picks additional battles for the purposes of cutting unqualified candidates. It usually takes ninety days to make selections once the first four rounds are over, and the eight winning teams are granted that time to train and rest. The others will fight as asked by the board, either as a team or an individual. Afterwards, the selected candidates are trained for several months and then transported to the Marathon."

I nodded.

"So if I hadn't accidentally killed a member of the ruling family, I'd be in for an easy time."

"If you want to put it bluntly," Hilda replied. "Fortunately for you it happened as a result of a fault in the tournament's death detection systems."

"I don't understand that," I said. "It sounds like there's never been an issue with the system before. So why now? Why me? And why when I get a lucky shot on a Gahar?"

"It's possible that someone toyed with the system, but my guess is that it just wasn't designed to handle the complexity of the eraser you employed."

"Eraser?"

"It's the type of void you created. I don't know how you're capable of doing such a thing, but that's a moot point now. Erasers are an extremely advanced void that destroys matter, which is how it got its name. It violates everything we know about physics and the employment of maniah."

"So I removed Viktor Gahar's heart from existence?" I asked, grimacing.

Hilda nodded.

 _Sweet fuck._

"Ultimately the Gahar you killed was a probationary member and will not be sorely missed, despite whatever the initial reaction might be. You just have to weather this out."

I nodded, concealing the fact that I was upset.

"I know you don't want to leave your teammates behind, but the next event is an individual one. This works out better for you, anyways."

I looked up at her curiously.

"You know what's going on outside?"

She looked slightly confused at the question.

"Of course I do. I thought you knew I was from the same timeframe as you already."

I had so many questions, but we were interrupted by another purple-cloaked figure coming in from a door at the back of the room.

"Ma'am," He said, bowing to Hilda. "The longsword is ready."

"Good," She said, waving me towards the door. "Follow me."

We made our way through the door and down a hallway lined with purple lights. It opened into a small hangar with several aircraft. The longsword was an older model decked in the King's Arm colors and crest. It was among the faster ground-based fixed wing aircraft still in operation, which led me to believe Hilda was slightly worried about being chased.

We boarded the ship and it took off immediately. As I watched the arena disappear into the distance, I had to fight back a wave of nostalgia.

 _You've only been on the Continent of Tests for a couple months. There's no reason to be nostalgic._

I pretended that I had convinced myself of that fact and walked up to the cockpit. Hilda was standing next to the pilot looking out the windows, and it struck me again just how much she looked like Zelda. I decided I had to ask.

"Hilda, are you and Zelda…"

She glanced over at me.

"Are we…?"

"Related." I said.

The pilot looked over at me, astonished. Hilda merely laughed.

"Ask her when you get back. See what she says."

I didn't bother pressing it any further, since she obviously wasn't giving an answer. Instead I walked over to the window and stared out at the receding ground. I couldn't see the barrier around the Gauntlet from this side, but I knew it had to be close. We were so high that I could see the curve of the horizon. The distant sun was poking around the side of the gas giant, bathing the Gauntlet in a strange greenish-blue hue.

Somewhere out there, Malon was unwittingly waiting on me to return. She had no idea how much I was missing her right now, but I felt like I was making progress. The Continent of Tests was behind me, which meant there were only five continents left. For the first time since Impa had dumped me on this godforsaken rock, I felt like I was getting somewhere. Even better, I had tentative allies in the King's Arm.

I was upset about the way it had turned out, but as the longsword ripped through the exosphere I felt nothing but hope.

I was on to the next step of the journey.

…

Malon

…

I almost thought Impa was kidding when she told me what she had done.

Almost.

Then I had gone through the standard period of anger, bargaining, and depression before being able to accept that he was gone. There was nothing I could do at this point but hope he survived the ordeal and came back as the savior Impa was convinced he would be.

We certainly needed him to. We had inflicted heavy losses on the Eta Ali, but in the end they had taken Faron in under a week. Cutov was also firmly under their control, and suddenly Hyrule found itself as the second-strongest military power in the galaxy. Most of the Gerudo had fallen in rank with their kind, which meant that once again we were embroiled in a war.

I had retreated to Castle with Zelda, but Impa was back on Faron organizing the last remnants of resistance among the people there. The SSC was split up and at its weakest point in years, and the Hylian military wasn't faring any better.

I found myself sleeping on the couch in Zelda's living room more often than in my own bed. The house felt too lonely without Link, and my presence allowed the few remaining members of the SSC here to rest. Sometimes I even took Zelda's bed while she was working overnight, which had quickly lost its morbid amusement.

The fact was that I had very few people left in my life. My husband was gone to the farthest depths of the galaxy and one of my few friends had more important things to deal with. Even my part-time job had fallen through in the face of an intergalactic crisis.

I sighed, staring up at the ceiling and feeling miserable for myself. Every day was harder to get through than the one before it, but I had to keep going. There were people relying on me.

The door opened, and I recognized Zelda's footsteps as she came in. Nobody was with her.

"Hey," I mumbled, lacking any enthusiasm.

She sat down on the other end of the couch in silence, staring at the wall for several minutes before I dared to speak up.

"Not going well?"

She shook her head slightly. It was only when I looked up that I noticed her face was streaked with tears.

In all my years around the queen, I had never seen her cry. In fact, as far as I was aware Link was the only person alive who had. Even then, it was only after a particularly close call involving an attempt on her life.

I wasn't sure how to respond. Link hadn't been able to hide his meltdowns once we got married and moved in with each other, but he had always asked me to leave him alone until he could get a hold of himself. But then, Zelda had sought me out. If she wanted to hide she could have gone into her room.

"Do you want me to leave?" I asked quietly, sitting up.

Zelda shook her head again, so I moved closer and wrapped my arms around her.

 _It's probably best that I'm here._ I thought, realizing how awkward this would have been for the rest of the SSC.

Zelda sobbed into my shoulder for over fifteen minutes, but otherwise said nothing and made no move to pull herself away. I knew nothing I could say would make her situation any better, so I just kept my mouth shut.

Finally she calmed down enough that she could breathe properly and sat up a little bit.

"There's no way to win," She said finally. "The numbers don't work, and there's nothing I can do. Even if…"

I glanced over at her when she paused.

"No matter what I do, we'll would still lose. This is my fault. Most of the people living here have been shielded from the discomforts involved with life and don't know the first thing about fighting and killing. They don't even have time to learn."

"They don't?" I asked tentatively.

"No, the Gerudo aren't stopping at Faron. Their 'God' has instructed them to destroy Hyrule, and they're halfway there already."

"How long until they reach Castle?"

Zelda shrugged.

"They're not moving yet. That's all I know."

I nodded, and she stood up.

"I… I have to go do something that I don't want to do. Nobody wants me to do this."

"Is it the only way any of us will survive?"

She nodded, and a lone tear worked its way down her cheek.

"Then go do it," I replied.

Zelda cleaned her face up and left the room. Later that night, she drafted every Hylian man and woman over fourteen years of age and ordered them to basic training. When I found out in the morning, I realized immediately why she had been so distressed.

The journalists and the media would never know, but I did.

…


	23. Pt 2 Ch 8 - The Continent of Endurance 1

**I've decided to start a running "blog" type of explanation on my profile. Check there (after the chapter) for additional information that may not be readily apparent in the story itself.**

Part 2 Chapter 8

Zelda

I burst into the war room, fully expecting chaos. Medli shut the door behind us, and I looked at the fourteen generals gathered around the table.

"Go ahead," I said, taking my seat at the head of the table. A hologram of the occupied area around Greater Hyrule appeared in the center of the room and Ralph, the Planetary Defense Director, highlighted several areas of space around Cutov and Faron.

"I know most of you have heard this before, but I'm going to give the full situation brief to dispel any lingering rumors. Our current military presence on Faron is less than fifty percent of the enemy's numbers. Any Hylian forces on Cutov when the attack started are now considered missing-in-action, and presumed dead at the hands of the Eta Ali. The Church of Eta Ali has either converted or conscripted over ninety percent of the Gerudo population and taken virtually all of the planet's military resources.

"Spatially, we still control or contest seventy percent of occupied space. Geographically, we control most of Faron. The Gerudo are suffering heavy casualties outside of the cities and have been unable to gain the support of the remaining populace. From what the scouts are reporting, there are hordes of civilians joining the remaining military forces there."

I nodded, glad that there was some good news.

"Closer to home, the news about the draft is still making its way around the planet. The people don't seem surprised or particularly resistant, outside of the expected outliers. All of the old training bases are being reopened, and we should be prepared for the first round of the draft in about a week. That leads me into troop numbers.

"Currently, the Hylian Army has just under 900 million active duty soldiers. Once reservists and inactive duty troops are called up tomorrow, we should be looking at a ground force of 1.3 billion. This will be the strongest the Army has been since the dawn of the Hylian Empire. The Navy has 300 million active sailors, and 100 million more reservists that will also be called up. We have 86 supercarriers, 147 carriers, 854 destroyers, and several thousand smaller spacecraft that are fit for battle.

"For comparison, the Eta Ali currently match us in ground force fighting strength, although their troops are arguably better-trained. It remains to be seen how hard the conscripted Gerudo fight, but we're counting on a worst-case scenario right now. Their navy is using Hylian technology that was stolen in the takeover. Their forces are fully trained, but the Empire's Navy has the newest technology. Most notably, almost all of our destroyers are equipped with the newest model of the MAC Cannon, while the Gerudo will be using older nuclear weapons."

I was hesitant to feel relief, but it was better news than I was expecting. Initial estimates had shown that the Gerudo were unified behind the Eta Ali, but if they were having to conscript their own people then it wasn't a settled matter.

"My last concern is a legal one," Ralph said, looking at me. "The Council has yet to pass a Resolution of War, and the military is handling this as a domestic disturbance. I believe this resolution needs to be passed before we're able to legally draft citizens into the Army."

I sighed. Passing a Resolution of War involved significant bureaucratic hurdles, made even more complicated because I was declaring war on an entire race of people that were citizens of the Hylian Empire. The war with the King's Collective had been considered a domestic issue, but I knew the gathered generals wouldn't tolerate me skating a resolution again. I would also have to promote someone to the position of Supreme Field Marshal, which had always been a cutthroat contest in the past. Generals had been known to arrange assassinations of leading candidates to help their chances.

"I'll meet with the Council today," I replied finally. "If they pass a resolution, I'll be selecting the Supreme Field Marshal myself. If any of you start mysteriously dying right before I make that decision, I'll just have all of you jailed until I figure out who was responsible. Don't even think of playing games with me on this."

They nodded in understanding, although I noticed a few uncomfortable looks. They knew I wasn't prone to bluffing.

"I'll be directly supervising and personally joining in training once the draftees start coming through," I said. "Everyone needs to be prepared to fight when the time comes, and I refuse to be a porcelain doll sitting on the throne while my people fight."

Ralph nodded.

"Please use discretion in your involvement, your majesty," He said. "Your presence will be a great morale booster, but could distract from the actual training. You already know how to fight, so it's not imperative that you be there frequently. I think it's a good idea to maintain a presence, though."

"You have my word that I will be discreet," I said.

The meeting dragged on for another hour, but not much had changed in the past few days. The Gerudo were still fighting for Faron, and we were still at a disadvantage until the Hylian Army could be bulked with new soldiers. Once the generals started discussing tactics and movement, I nodded to Medli and quietly took my leave. My presence would be detrimental to that kind of discussion.

I was now faced with transitioning from a political figurehead to a wartime leader, which was no simple task. I would have to tailor my public image perfectly, and I would need help from someone more experienced.

"Medli," I said, looking over at her.

"Yeah?"

"Get me in contact with Shad. We have a lot of work to do today."

…

Link

I took a deep breath as I reached a ridgeline, and then pulled myself up to the top. It was the end of a long climb, and marked 400 kilometers traveled since entering the Marathon. The entire continent was 3500 kilometers wide, although it could have been a much longer trip if Hilda hadn't arranged to drop me off at and ideal location on the southwest coast.

My task was simple in concept. I had to walk from the west coast to the east. There was no time limit, and no rules about how I got there. The execution was far more complicated, though, partly due to the fact that I was about to start on 1300 kilometers of desert broken up only by a few rivers and small mountain ranges.

I checked the liquid compression bottles that Hilda had given me as part of my gear. They were heavy, but each of the four fist-sized bottles could carry four liters of water. I could comfortably make it a week with that amount, and up to ten days if I were strict.

When I faced the desert on the other side of the mountain range, I was struck with a sense of wonder and awe. This route was considered the shortcut to the east coast, as starting further north would have resulted in a much longer journey. The downside was that most of the southwestern portion of the continent was a massive desert. All I had was a paper map that Hilda had given me. It was based on hand drawings and notes of several thousand battlemage candidates, since satellite imagery was impossible through the barrier around the Gauntlet and the battlemage council strictly forbid any sort of professional mapmaking of this continent. That left me with an unreliable map of my various options for water, but it was better than nothing.

The sun was approaching the horizon, so I found a small alcove on the eastern side of the ridge and sheltered myself for the night. I would have to hunt tomorrow, but for now I had a decent amount of food left in my backpack.

Wilderness survival was something I had always picked up on fairly easily, but this was on a new level. In the past, I had been worried about enemies in the area. Here, I had to worry about feeding myself and finding water. If I were to get injured out here, I would have to treat myself. I was in complete solitude. I hadn't spoken to anyone since I had said my goodbyes to Hilda at the west coast one week ago. In fact, at this point I probably hadn't even spoken out loud in three or four days.

I knew the effects that this extreme isolation would have on me, so I made it a habit to look up as I traversed the terrain. My tactic was simple. I would estimate the distance between mountains and calculate how high I would need to aim to shoot a specific point with the various rifles I used back home.

I sighed as I stared up at the sky. The Gauntlet was facing away from the gas giant, so I could see the night sky in all its splendor. The nights here were impossibly dark when the gas giant blocked the light from the red dwarf star, and I could see Castle's home star from here. Hilda had pointed it out when we were flying to the west coast, and I took every opportunity to stare at it. Ironically, it was the Gauntlet's North Star, and was visible at any point in its orbit. The simple dot of light, over 8,000 light years away, was a constant reminder of where I had come from and where I had to go back to.

There were people on Castle that needed me, and for that reason I had to survive this ordeal. It was said among the battlemages that this continent was the hardest. Everything afterwards seemed like a formality.

I used my maniah to start a small fire and warm the alcove, and then cleared a spot where I could sleep. I was sticking to a strict cycle of 12 hours of hiking followed by 8 hours of sleep, which left me 4 hours in the morning to hunt and look for water.

I dozed off quickly, having worn myself down climbing up the mountainside the previous day. My sleep didn't last long, though. I woke up less than an hour later when the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I opened my eyes slowly, knowing immediately that something was stalking me. I couldn't see it yet, but I could feel its presence.

I pressed my aura outwards, feeling the surrounding area for anything rippling the fabric of space, and put my hand on the Master Sword. A pair of yellow eyes glowed in the brush for a split second, so I tossed a few more pieces of wood on the fire and fueled it with maneah.

An ear-splitting scream nearly sent me out of my skin, and I drew the Master Sword in one swift motion.

 _A mountain lion!_

Mountain lions were native to Faron, but I had never heard of them being brought to the Gauntlet. So far, I had only seen completely foreign wildlife.

Surprisingly, the lion wandered out into the open and stared at me, although it didn't look like it was about to attack. It looked quite a bit different than the variety found on Faron, but that was to be expected. It was a female, since I could feel her cubs watching from a distance.

The lion seemed more curious than aggressive, but I stayed on guard. I had no idea how long it had been since she had eaten, which was nerve racking. I was ready to use an eraser, but I was hesitant unless she actually attacked. It seemed like a waste of a life to kill a curious animal.

After a minute of looking around my miniscule campsite, the lion wandered off into the brush and I breathed a sigh of relief. My heart was pounding, though, so I decided to start my descent into the desert. I didn't know if that lion would come back, and I didn't want to find out.

As I packed up the campsite, I stared at the North Star and once again thought back to my home.

 _I'll be back soon._

When all of my gear was packed and the fire was put out, I refilled my water in a nearby stream and started down the other side, ready to tackle the hardest part of the journey.

…

Malon

…

I swore as I missed a shot, and picked up my rifle so I could move to a different position. The Gerudo were having a hard time pinpointing my location in this heavily wooded area, but it wouldn't take long before I was found.

As I radioed back to the Forest Rangers that were moving to flank the pinned-down platoon of Eta Ali, I lamented the fact that I had volunteered to do this. I wasn't a sniper by any stretch of the term. Link would have laughed at my pathetic attempts, but it was all I could do right now. I was using his rifle, which I was sure would have riled him up.

 _It would, except Impa sent him off to some godforsaken corner of the galaxy._

I squeezed off another shot once I had moved to a new position several hundred meters away. Much to my surprise, it eviscerated a Gerudo at the rear of the pinned-down platoon. The rest of the soldiers ducked back down into cover, and the Forest Rangers began their ambush. The forest echoed with the whistle of bullets and screams of dying Eta Ali soldiers.

Link was more reserved than I was. The sounds of battle would haunt him for months, whereas I felt some sort of sick pleasure in killing my enemies. I managed to land another shot, blowing off a Gerudo's arm before she was taken out by a Forest Ranger.

The Eta Ali couldn't fight well in the forest, and the people of Faron hadn't wasted time exploiting that weakness. We still had the looming threat of Richard's hideous new figure, but he was yet to show his face since he fought Link in the capital. The Forest Rangers had begun to call him Ganon due to his resemblance to the ancient villain.

"Position secured."

I looked through my scope at the bloody scene over a kilometer away and momentarily feeling quite pleased with myself. I hadn't racked up a huge body count, but I had effectively pinned down an entire platoon of Gerudo for over eight minutes while the Forest Rangers moved into position. It looked like there were no casualties on our side, which was fortunate. We couldn't afford to lose any of the highly-trained Rangers taking down small fry.

I wasn't done yet, though. Several of these ambushes were planned today, and my help would be needed. The Gerudo had been allowed to push further into the forest than before, which made them lazy. Prior to today, they thought they were pursuing us deeper into the continent, but we were letting them pass.

This was Impa's idea. It was based off of an ancient war in which a far inferior military fighting an overwhelming force had retreated deep into their own country, allowing the enemies to invade without the expected amount of resistance, and then cut off their supply lines when they were stretched thin. The Gerudo were obviously lacking in their knowledge of history, as they had pushed their patrols outside of heavy artillery range in pursuit.

We didn't have many skilled troops, but the Forest Rangers were on a new level. One of them could terrorize an entire company of Gerudo without ever being seen. Faron's broken military was of little help, though, as most of their personnel had been lost when the west coast fell. The civilians, however heavily armed, weren't much better equipped to handle a planetary invasion. Usually the Empire was the one on offense. It was a grim reality that, until now, nothing had been able to make the Hylian Empire train for a defensive war.

Most of the surviving civilians had been shipped off the planet to Castle, where they would be drafted as able and trained to fight another day. For now, Impa wanted to stall the Eta Ali as much as possible. The longer they were bogged down trying to gain complete control of Faron, the more time preparations could be made on Castle. Even if we could hold them here for a month, the scientists back in the capital would be able to put the old orbital cannons into service and further deter the Eta Ali's navy.

I took a moment to appreciate the fact that Zelda had withheld the best naval tech from service near Cutov. Dropping a few MAC rounds on the forest would obliterate our resistance, but the Gerudo didn't have that capability for now. Firing on us from orbit with their nuclear or plasma weapons would glass the continent, making it uninhabitable and sealing away its vast natural resources.

I aided several ambushes throughout the day, but eventually the Gerudo backed down and retreated to a nearby city. Total enemy casualties for the day ended up being over one hundred dead and several dozen injured, whereas only five of our soldiers had been killed and two Forest Rangers injured in a mishap with a grenade. The numbers were good, but most days were worse. The Eta Ali fighters today had been mostly conscripts who were being used as expendable troops for the trained fighters defending the cities. Since taking the cities back wasn't a priority, though, this would be fine for now.

I followed the sight of a campfire in the woods and found a group of militiamen warming themselves.

"Are you guys insane?"

I kicked the logs apart and tossed snow on them, ignoring the protests of the men around me.

"Who the hell are you?" One of them asked. He had lieutenant rank on his uniform.

 _Great, a lieutenant._ I thought. The kid looked too young to be an officer, but that's how it was with these militiamen. They were undertrained and carried weapons that had barely been fired, but I had to tolerate their presence. At least they were here fighting for Hyrule.

"Captain Malon White," I replied. "Do any of you have a concept of being in an active war zone? You don't start fires and broadcast your position to everyone in this valley."

The lieutenant stared at me for a few seconds, unsure of how to respond. Finally, his face took on a defiant edge.

"Who are you with, _Captain_? I've never seen a female officer, and I certainly don't recognize that armor from anywhere. Is Castle so desperate that they've commissioned any asshole off the street?"

He went on for a while longer, but I just rolled my eyes.

"One day, you're going to learn that there's a bigger world out there than the small village you grew up in," I said, and started moving out of the small clearing. The lieutenant picked up a wet log and threw it onto the glowing embers.

I stared at him for a few moments.

"Lieutenant, if I see that fire for the rest of the time I'm here, I'll kill you myself."

I said nothing more, instead disappearing into the woods. The fire stayed out for the rest of the night.

…

"That was quite the show."

I tensed up at Impa's sudden appearance, but didn't show how startled I was. It was the first time I had seen her in person since she had taken Link away.

"What are you here for?" I asked once I had collected myself.

"I was in the area and decided to check up on you."

"You've now checked on me. I'm alive," I replied.

Impa sighed.

"Malon, you don't need to be like this."

Impa never beat around the bush. I knew I was acting petty, but I didn't care.

"I'm under no obligation to be friendly to you," I said, scowling. "I tolerated you when you were my boss, and when I retired because Link still worked for you. Now, though? I think not."

Impa's face was as stoic as ever, which angered me further.

"You're a relic of the past, Impa," I continued. "I don't know what asinine thought process led you to take my husband away and throw him into some secret training program, and I don't know how you convinced him to go along with the plan, but I'm not going to trust your judgment on this. Not this time."

I was still walking, hoping Impa would leave but knowing she wouldn't. Instead she walked next to me, listening to me rant for several more minutes before I found an adequate campsite and threw my pack on the ground.

"Can you please just go away?" I asked, exasperated as I watched her drop her own pack and begin setting up a tent.

"No."

I took my helmet off, throwing it on the ground and sitting down with my back against a nearby tree. For several minutes, I stared at Link's rifle in silence. Finally, I decided that I would at least make the most of Impa being here. I had dozens of questions.

"What happened to Link the night that the Eta Ali attacked? Why did you do this?" I asked with a huff. The last time I had seen him was when he left the hotel shortly before the war started.

"That night, Link went out to meet Richard and tried to kill him," Impa replied simply.

"And Richard is still alive?"

Impa looked up at me.

"Do you know why Link has such horrible nightmares? What miserable excuse did he tell you for the past few years?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I don't need to be a psychologist to tell that Link has post-traumatic stress. He's seen more combat than the rest of the SSC combined."

Impa shook her head.

"You misunderstand the nature of his trauma. You told me that there was a massive explosion of dark energy from the Master Sword when Link drew it from the pedestal in the forest, which confirmed my suspicions at the time. You, of course, remember Link's unbelievable magical energy when he first joined the SSC."

I nodded, still unsure of where she was going with this.

"And someone must have mentioned to you at one point that that magical energy was a result of Demise's ancient curse on the line of heroes. After years of failing to manifest itself in Hyrule, Demise corrupted the line of heroes itself."

I was ashamed that I had come to believe Impa. At first this had sounded like an old wives' tale, but she had convinced me that there was something to it over the past year. It didn't make me hate her any less, though.

"That curse offered him nearly infinite power, but Link never accepted it. He seemed to know, at least on a subconscious level, that taking in that power would cause him to lose himself. I've spoken with him about what would have happened, but I don't know that he realizes the extent of his own willpower even today. To be tempted with unimaginable power from such a young age and borrow small amounts of it so frequently should have turned him, but it didn't.

"Therein lies the problem. Link's mental state was permanently altered by the curse, and expelling it from his body left holes in his being."

"Holes?"

"Yes, holes," Impa replied. "Magic entwines itself with one's very being, which is why most people cannot use it. Only souls chosen by the Goddesses have such capabilities, but Link is different. I do not believe that he is naturally capable of magic, but because the curse altered him so highly as to even change his soul. Do you know how maniah is stored within the body?"

I shook my head.

"I thought not. Magical theory is something only the battlemages are taught. Maniah pools inside your spirit, or soul. It isn't a perfect comparison, but it's much like air moving from a high-pressure area to one with low pressure. When you use magic, you are forcefully expelling maniah from your spiritual being. Your ability to do so has limits, though, as you cannot use so much that you create holes similar to what Link has in his soul.

"These holes can release all of their maniah, as Link's spiritual being seems tohave adapted to the holes and no longer needs that space for his continued survival. He has likely discovered by now that he has an enormous pool of maniah, but he cannot alter maneah effectively because he lacks innate magical ability. The reason he was so powerful at first was simply because the curse was altering maneah for him."

I stared at her for a few moments, trying to absorb the information being shoved down my throat.

"So what you're telling me is that because Link used to be insanely powerful, his body sort of… 'remembers,' per se? But it's sloppy, and this training will potentially fix that?"

Impa nodded.

"Does that affect his mental state? The holes in his spiritual being, I mean."

"I don't know," Impa admitted. "What I can tell you is that Link doesn't lament killing his enemies as much as he claims. The nightmares he blames on post-traumatic stress are not from battle, but from years of fighting off Demise's influence on his mind, as well as the gap left by its exit. In fact, those nightmares would have soon invaded even his waking moments and driven him mad."

The nightmares had definitely been getting worse the longer we had been married. Before this war kicked off, I had been thinking about sleeping in a different room because he tossed and turned so much. The only thing keeping me by his side at night was that I was a source of comfort.

"You still haven't answered my original question," I said. "Why did you take him to the Gauntlet?"

"I have, though. Link was unable to fight Richard in his present state, which resulted in him nearly dying. He needs help, and this training will benefit his mind as well. Once he learns to control the flow of maniah into and out of his body, the trauma caused by the exit of Demise's curse will heal itself naturally. He will never be an incredible magician, but he will be able to defeat Richard in their next meeting. What worries me is where the curse will go next, which is why I decided to come see you."

I groaned, remembering again how much I disliked this woman.

"So there was an ulterior motive."

"You deserved an explanation regardless."

I stood up and walked over to my pack, deciding that I would just have to tolerate Impa's presence for the rest of the night. At least she was being more forthcoming with me about her reasons.

"Okay, fine. Talk to me about where the curse is going if Richard dies."

…

Link

…

I had been traveling in the desert for two weeks now, and I was starting to find some interesting signs of ancient civilization. The west coast of the continent looked as if it had been thoroughly picked over and cleaned up, but Hilda had told me that the desert was practically untouched. There were old corroded road signs, but I had been able to find one that still had markings on it. The figures were completely unrecognizable, but I had copied them in a notebook to research once I had the opportunity.

 _Zelda would probably be able to read it._ I thought to myself, staring at the incomprehensible writing. It was the only thing I had to entertain myself with.

The desert was boring, to say the least. I had traveled over 400 kilometers since leaving the mountains, stopping at every oasis along the way and taking shelter in a forested area around a river. Fortunately I had found an ancient bridge still standing over the river, which was also where I found the sign buried halfway in the dirt.

My left leg buckled and I dropped to the ground, barely able to control the fall.

 _What the…_

I looked back, but I hadn't tripped on anything. There was just sand. When I tried to get up, though, I realized what the problem was. My leg had completely given out.

 _Goddesses, how far have I walked today?_

I looked at the small mountains to the east, suddenly noticing that they were much closer.

 _Ah, fuck._

The sun had already set and the air was starting to get chilly. The desert was absolutely frigid at night, which meant that I had to find shelter soon. As it stood now, though, there was nowhere to go. I couldn't believe that I had walked an entire day without noticing.

 _Did I even stop to rest?_

My feet were bleeding, which didn't bode well for my ability to travel in the morning. After I was done cursing myself for making such a stupid mistake, I hobbled over to a nearby group of shrubs and sheltered on the downwind side. They weren't much, but it was better than sleeping out in the open.

I was absolutely disgusting by now. The blood all over my boots was minimal compared to the amount of grime that had built up since I had taken a bath in the river six days ago. More importantly, though, I could tell that the isolation was getting to my mind. I had just zoned out for an entire day, only occasionally thinking about something besides checking my compass and staring at the strange figures in my notebook.

I took off my boots and used a small amount of water to work the blood out of the leather, then turned to my clothing and attempted to clean each piece to the best of my ability. Finally, I stripped naked and washed myself before the air got too cold. I would have to bundle up and do the best I could tonight while my clothing dried, but it would be worth it in the end.

The sun had completely set by the time I curled up under my blanket, leaving only a small sliver of the gas giant visible to the east. The mountains blocked a significant portion of it now, which meant I had gotten significantly closer.

 _That hardly matters if I injure myself and get stuck in the desert._

I nearly leapt out of my own skin when I saw something move in the corner of my eye, rolling out of the blanket and drawing the Master Sword in one smooth moment.

There was nothing there.

 _How long have I been awake?_

Suddenly, I couldn't remember how long I had been walking. It could have been all day, but it could have been since yesterday. In fact, I couldn't remember anything since the previous morning. But there was no way I had walked for two days and a night without noticing. When I looked at the mountains to the east, though, I was shocked at how much closer they were.

I huffed to myself, alarmed that I was losing it so quickly.

 _It's only been…_

I froze in the middle of lying back down, realizing that I had completely lost track of how many days it had been since I started my journey. I thought it was around three weeks, but it could have been up to a month.

There was still movement in my peripheral vision, but I ignored it. I knew what this was. At heightened levels of exhaustion, I was prone to seeing shadow people. During my black ops training, I could remember four different occasions when this had happened, all of them being after 50 hours of continuous activity without sleep. If I stayed up another 20 hours, the shadow people would stay in my vision even when I looked at them. At 90 hours, they started making noises. I hadn't toyed with anything beyond 100 hours, but I imagined it would get far worse.

I did feel a decent amount of anxiety, but I attributed that more to sleep deprivation than the creepy moving shadows. I fell asleep quickly once the cold desert night set in.

At some point in the night, I felt enough anxiety to wake up again. Judging by the fact that I could now see the gas giant rising high above the mountains in the east, it had been five or six hours. What caught my attention, though, was the blistering cold that had settled over the desert. The wind had abated, leaving only silence.

Complete silence.

I tried to move, but my arms and legs felt like lead.

 _Sleep paralysis._

This was another dilemma I had experienced before, usually during times of high stress. I focused on trying to move a single toe.

Nothing happened, so I tried to move a finger. Still nothing.

 _Just ride it out, Link. You're fine._

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing, but couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling of the cold. It was well below freezing. When I couldn't take it anymore, I tried to move my toes again.

Nothing.

I opened my eyes and looked around, nearly panicking when I saw that the shadow people were standing above me. Their arms were reaching down towards my motionless body.

"What the fuck?!"

I couldn't move, but I quickly found that I could use magic. In a moment of instinct I sent a blast of maniah outwards, which threw the four shadowy figures several meters away. My body was suddenly capable of motion again, so I jumped to my feet and drew the Master Sword. It glowed a bright blue color, and the jewel on its pommel pierced the darkness with a bright yellow beam.

The shadowy figures seemed quite real now as they drifted upright, slowly moving towards me. The closer they got, the colder I felt. It sapped the energy from my muscles.

 _Keep them at a distance._

I picked a shadow figure and launched a bolt of fire at it. The maneah passed through its form harmlessly, destroying a shrub in the background.

 _Does magic not work?!_

As if in response to the thought, the Master Sword glowed even brighter. I knew what I needed to do.

The shrubs behind me lit up with a simple thought, and I pressed my aura into the surrounding area to help counteract the crippling effects of the cold. As the shadows advanced, I found that my solution had an effect on my ability to move.

I struck down the first shadow with the Master Sword, hearing a muffled scream as the blue light cut through its rippling body. The next one fell just as easily, so I turned to the remaining two. They had paused.

I lunged, stabbing one and diving at the last one. It retreated before I could swing my sword, disappearing into the night.

The temperature returned to normal and the silence was broken by the wind. All seemed to be normal in the desert now. I now found myself staring at the Master Sword in awe. It had never responded to me like this.

"What are you?" I asked quietly.

I didn't receive a verbal response, but I could feel what it was trying to tell me.

 _I'm not alone._

I got nothing more. The sword lost its blue glow, and I was left standing in the desert completely naked.

 _Screw my feet, I'm getting out of here._

I dressed and packed quickly, wasting no time to see if the shadows had friends in the area. My feet barely hurt at all as I took off at a blistering run to the east, trying to put as much distance between myself and the creepy shadows as possible.

I ran for hours, refusing to stop even after the sun had risen high into the sky. Every fiber of my being wanted to be out of the desert. Near midday, I reached the foot of the mountains and collapsed by a small stream, swearing as I saw blood seeping out of my boots again.

 _Fuck this place. Fuck this continent. Fuck this planet._

I made a mental note to chastise Hilda for her suggestion to cross the desert. I would rather travel an extra 1000 kilometers if it meant I didn't have fight shadows in the middle of the night.

The desert yielded to a more temperate environment as I hobbled into the mountains, eventually giving up in the early afternoon and setting up camp by a small river. I discovered a few collapsed boulders that formed a nice shelter and crawled into it. To my surprise, the boulders had fallen around an old sign, which appeared to have preserved it to a certain degree. It was steel, which was likely why it had lasted so long. Printed on the front was what looked like a black fan blade or propeller with a yellow background.

 _I wonder what that_ _means._

I drew it in my notebook, as well as the strange text beneath it. A few of the figures were the same as the ones I had found on the road sign by the river, so I circled them. I knew I needed to rest now, though, so I decided to camp out for a few days until my feet healed. I was a little paranoid because of the past night's events, but I was also too tired to care. For now I had a source of fresh water and an enclosed space to hide from predators. That was what I needed.

Once I had cleaned my clothing, boots, and bathed in the river, I laid down again for a long-overdue night of sleep.

…

The end of the desert was every bit as distant as Hilda had suggested it would be. The mountains had only been a slight reprieve to what ended up being the longest two months of my life. Because of my degrading mental state, I had begun to log everything in my notebook. Days passed and kilometers traveled were an integral part of my tracking procedure meant to give me something to do. Water became scarce several times during the trip, but I always managed to find a new source just in time. Following the mountain ranges and traveling southeast ended up being the best course of action, as water and food were both much easier to find. Eventually, though, the mountains ended and I was forced to descend back into the desert.

Nearly 300 kilometers of shrubs and cacti finally broke into rolling plains, which was the first indication that I had survived the hardest part of the journey. Looking at green grass had never felt so satisfying in my life. By this point, I had traveled nearly 1800 kilometers, which meant that I had reached the halfway point. It was a bittersweet feeling due to the massive length of the journey, but also a significant accomplishment. The next portion was going to be a hassle, though, due to the kilometer-wide river closer to the east coast. According to my map, there was one bridge still standing over a narrow portion of it, but if I didn't get within a few kilometers I would be hard-pressed to find it. Many portions of the river were over two kilometers wide, and the map was far from descriptive about each bend and twist. The first labeled landmark to the north was a tributary over 150 kilometers upriver, and the downriver side had no other notable landmarks until it emptied into the sea to the south. If I had to go all the way down to the sea and follow the coast to the east, it would add an extra 300 kilometers through swampland.

I huffed to myself. The journey would likely be easier if I just aimed for the coastline, but there was no guarantee I could actually get through the river delta. It could be just as perilous as attempting to swim the river itself, and then I would have lost several weeks of travel time. On the other hand, if I headed towards the bridge and missed it, I would lose over a month before having to cross the delta anyways.

 _That is if I don't decide to swim the river._

I knew I could swim a kilometer even with all the weight I was carrying. In fact, I could swim the widest part of the river without too much difficulty, but it wasn't worth dying in the attempt. This whole trip was about calculated risk.

It was frustrating. I felt like a haze was sitting in between my mind and the right decision. Hilda had specifically warned against attempting to swim this river due to the current, bone-chilling temperature, and average width. Several of her past recruits had died attempting the swim because of the midstream current.

 _I'll just make a decision in the next week._ I thought to myself as I finished packing.

The past few days had brought interesting scenery in the form of ancient machines left in complete ruins. Some of the steel pieces were left standing in a maze of pipework that gave no clues as to the overall purpose. There were several small-caliber bullet holes and other strange markings in the thinner pieces of metal, but it was impossible to find out what had happened there or how long ago it had taken place with the time I had. All I had was another sign that had landed in the dirt, which seemed to preserve the metal to some degree. Once I had drawn out what I could see and written down the ancient text on the sign, I made my way east.

I had become increasingly paranoid since being attacked in the desert, but I felt as if I shouldn't be since it had happened almost two months ago. It almost felt like the boredom of the desert had left my mind searching for something to think about, and being attacked was the only notable thing that had happened since I landed on this continent.

It was becoming apparent why this continent was so difficult. Death rates were supposedly hovering around 75%, and somewhere around a quarter of those were due to suicide. Long periods of time spent alone would be difficult for anyone, and even more so for a teenager.

Halfway through the day, I barely registered the noise of an aircraft passing overhead. Such an event was uncommon but also not unheard of. At night I could see several spacecraft flying outside the barrier around the exosphere, although I couldn't hear them due to the altitude at which they were flying. In-atmosphere aircraft were much less common, but I figured they were just battlemages flying between the continents on the Gauntlet. After all, the Continent of Tests had been visited by hundreds of battlemages during the tournament. There were definitely people moving around for one reason or another.

I almost didn't notice the helicopter land to the south a few minutes later. Suddenly I was on high alert, as such as event was unheard of. Interfering during the Continent of Endurance was strictly forbidden and often punishable by extended jail sentences.

 _Could it be Impa? Or Malon?_

I knew that such an event was highly unlikely. Malon didn't know I was here, and Impa had made clear to me that time would not pass outside of the barrier while I was here. There was no way she could have gotten here if that was true.

The helicopter took off almost as quickly as it had landed, and I chalked it down to regular maintenance. For all I knew, there was something to the south that interested the battlemages. I continued east for the rest of the day without giving it much thought.

Something was bothering me. If time wasn't passing outside, it shouldn't be possible to see spacecraft on the other side of the barrier. It could have been that the Gauntlet was at a fixed point in time that was either earlier or later than the time I had entered, but I also found that to be unlikely. Furthermore, Hilda's comment about "being from the same timeline" bothered me. She seemed to move back and forth through the Gauntlet's barrier without being affected by the time-freeze.

I found myself pondering the situation until well after dark. The gas giant was on the other side of the Gauntlet, so I was left with a great view of the night sky and a few passing spacecraft to analyze. It was hard to tell where they passed the barrier, but I thought I could see a small distortion for a fraction of a second before the lights went back to normal. What was clear was that there were spacecraft exiting the barrier and appearing on the other side.

 _Maybe it's just part of the barrier's magic?_

I finally stopped around midnight and logged my distance for the day. My feet were no longer in as much pain as when I started, and I found myself able to travel up to 60 kilometers per day without many issues. Going much farther took too much time, though, so I tried to limit myself. Because of my extra walking, I estimated I had gone 62 kilometers today, so I made a mental note to stop early the next day for some extra sleep.

Sleeping on soft grass was nice, and the weather was mild on the plains. I hadn't noticed any seasonal changes, either, since the Gauntlet spun on a 90-degree axis to the local star. What threw me off the most had been the changing times for daylight. The Gauntlet orbited the gas giant once every 30 days, and was completely blocked from sunlight for 5 days during each orbit. It spun on its axis once every 24 hours. Days could get as short as one hour if it was close to being blocked by the gas giant, or as long as 12 hours.

It was confusing, but also fun to try to figure out. I wouldn't have daylight until two days from now, when I would have one hour in the early morning before the gas giant blocked the star again. The next day would be 8 hours long, and after that it would be normal until two days before complete darkness the next month.

I wondered how much closer I would be by this time next month. If I kept up this blistering pace and found the bridge over the river to the east without difficulty, I could finish during that time. It was a lofty goal, but I had accomplished many lofty goals over the course of my life.

As I drifted off to sleep, I was disturbed by the sound of approaching footsteps. At first I thought it was my paranoia acting up again. When they continued in my direction and got louder, I opened my eyes and peeked through the grass without moving. The footsteps stopped a few meters away.

"Link."

I froze, my hand halfway to the Master Sword.

 _Who the hell is out here?_

"Link, come out. I already know you're there."

I looked over the top of the grass to see a man dressed in a white cloak. His blonde hair was exposed, but I couldn't see his face in the darkness. I stood up and pulled my clothing on quickly, keeping one eye on him the entire time.

"Who…" I started, my voice cracking from disuse. "Who are you? I'm a battlemage candidate, so you're not supposed to be interfering with the test."

He stared at me for a few moments before responding.

"My name is Raj Gahar. You may not recognize me, but I was the visiting Ruling Family member at the tournament in which you used an Eraser-class spell to kill a Gahar candidate."

My stomach sank. Hilda had whisked me out of the arena in order to avoid this kind of confrontation with this man. He must have been on the helicopter I had seen earlier.

 _Calm down. You don't know what he's here for._

"I should add that Viktor Gahar was my nephew, and I had a personal stake in seeing him make it through the Gauntlet."

I instantly began to look for an escape route, but it was clear that I had been approached here for a reason. There was nowhere to hide in the plains.

"Are you here to kill me?" I asked simply.

Raj stared at me with a strange lack of emotion.

"I could be. Viktor's mother and father would certainly like to see your head separated from your body, although I don't know how I feel about it yet."

I could see his face better now, and was struck by the contrast. His skin was light brown, which didn't quite match his hair color. His eyes were also a piercing blue, which was uncommon in dark-skinned individuals. Nothing about him matched Viktor Gahar, so I wondered if he was only related to him by marriage.

"Then what do you want?" I said.

He looked at me for a few more moments.

"I should say that I certainly came here to kill you," He replied. "That being said, I'm conflicted because it feels like a waste. In the history of the Gahar, Viktor is only the third candidate to be killed during the selection process, and the first to not make it through the Continent of Tests. The two killed before him were assassinated by other contestants, so you could say that he's the first to be killed in fair combat. Hilda assured me that you had no idea that the Eraser-class magic couldn't be detected by the tournament's kill-detection system."

"She's correct," I said.

"And I believe both of you, but I'm also left with a dead nephew and his killer left out here completely alone. It would be impossibly easy to kill you, and nobody would know. The helicopter I used is unregistered, and it's very common for candidates to die during this test. I doubt anyone would try to find you."

I drew the Master Sword and stared at him.

"You'll find that I'm not so easily killed."

"I'm sure I would be one of many to try," Raj said. "Although I doubt you can face down a true Gahar in single combat. I did my research, and you won't be able to touch me. You may be an outlier here, but I was able to find what's left of your military profile. It was filled to the brim with redacted information, which means you're someone important to Hyrule. That also means that your death will likely bring about some unwanted attention, so I don't want to make a mess."

I hated this. He spoke as if he could kill me with a flick of the wrist.

"And yet here you are," I replied. "If you're going to kill me, just get on with it. You won't be leaving in good shape."

I tried to not let my nervousness show, but it was obvious. My legs were shaking and I could barely hold the Master Sword steady.

"It looks like several months in the wilderness has taken the edge off your fighting abilities," Raj said bluntly. "I can't say I was much better during my test, but this won't even be a fun fight."

I suddenly found myself struggling to stand. My body felt like it weighed twice as much as normal.

"Have you ever heard of gravity magic?" Raj asked. "It's a fascinating thing, really. Most magic users can only utilize fire, water, earth, or wind magic. There are exceptions, of course, such as electricity, but that falls under wind magic. Gravity is an entirely different realm, though."

I tried to activate a void around myself, but it didn't help the increasing weight of my body. I was forced down to one knee under the tremendous weight of my own body.

"I was hoping you would try to use a void. As you can see, it's completely ineffective against non-elemental magic. Did you think you were all-powerful?"

My body kept getting heavier until I could no longer do anything but fall to the ground. My mind was racing with possibilities, but the only way I could see to get out of this was to attack Raj directly. I drew maneah from the surrounding area and blasted him with fire. The attack had almost no effect.

 _No! Not like this._

I tried to force myself up, but it just wasn't happening. My body felt like it was going to be ripped apart. I knew it was a mistake, but I threw most of my maniah into an eraser aimed at Raj's chest. The gravity field lowered in intensity as he absorbed the attack, but not enough for me to stand up again.

"Ah, I can see why Viktor would have fallen to an attack like that. It's truly beyond what any candidate should be able to use. Unfortunately for you, your magical affinity isn't anywhere near high enough to actually harm me. Your reserves of maniah are impressive, but you don't use it efficiently."

The gravity field lifted, but I was immediately hit with Raj's overwhelming aura. I hadn't felt anything so powerful since my battle with Richard on Faron.

I pushed back with my own aura to counteract the effects, but the rate at which I was running out of maniah was alarming. I wouldn't last more than ten seconds at this rate, so I gathered my energy and leapt to my feet. The Master Sword felt heavy as I lifted it and took a few steps toward Raj. He easily sidestepped my swing and pressed his aura harder.

I swung again, but there was no chance. The air felt like concrete due to the overwhelming presence of this one man's magical aura. I ran out of usable maniah and dropped to a knee again, heaving with effort.

"You must not have known defeat very often," Raj said simply, releasing his aura as I dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

Whatever he said next was muffled, and it wasn't long until I completely lost consciousness.

…

When I woke, I found myself lying in a circle of flattened grass with only the Master Sword next to me. All of my other possessions were gone, including the clothes I had been wearing. I looked around, wondering if I had been killed.

 _No, I'm not dead._ I thought to myself, realizing that I was still in the plains. I got to my feet and stumbled over to where I had set my gear down. My stomach sank when I realized what had happened.

Instead of killing me, Raj Gahar had taken everything except the Master Sword, which he likely wasn't able to touch. It was genius, really. It would be easier to explain my death if the King's Arm was able to find a body, and the blame wouldn't fall on the Gahar. There would be signs if he had killed me with magic.

 _That, or he's a sadistic fuck._

I sat down and looked around for a few minutes, completely at a loss. I was now out in the wilderness without any food, water, or clothing. The only thing I had was a weapon and magic, and I had to make it across half a continent before I could get help. I huffed to myself, realizing that I might actually die.

Without much more drama, though, I stood up and started walking east. This test wasn't going to complete itself.


	24. Pt 2 Ch 9 - The Continent of Endurance 2

Part 2 Chapter 9

Malon

…

I had spent the last several days traveling with Impa to a small chain of mountains in the heart of Faron's forest. Movement was difficult with the constant Eta Ali airborne patrols, but we had made it in one piece. The last day of travel was easier due to the Gerudo avoiding the area we were headed to.

Impa hadn't explained to me what was going on, yet I found myself following her for some inexplicable reason. I was surprised when she finally broke the tense silence.

"I can explain what we're doing now, if you would like," She said.

"You couldn't tell me in the desolate woods two days ago? Someone might have heard us talking there, as opposed to here?"

"Potentially."

I rolled my eyes.

"Go ahead."

"In this ring of mountains is the Temple of Chaos, which is headed by an individual I have history with. Her official title is the Priestess of Chaos, although it makes her sound quite a bit more hostile than she actually is."

"And somehow coming to this cult in the middle of the woods is supposed to bring us closer to locking away Demise's curse?"

"This isn't a cult," Impa said. "It's an officially recognized branch of Hylian theology that focuses on the goddess Din as the source of all power in Hyrule. The clergy here are similar to Monks of Nayru in a way, except that they're all women and their form of worship involves training their minds and bodies to fight."

It sounded sketchy, at best.

"So then why are we searching for the Priestess of Chaos?" I asked.

"Her name is Teah, and you will see very quickly that we need her on our side. She bears the Triforce of Power and knows how to use it, unlike Link and Zelda with their respective pieces."

"You're sure she's trustworthy?"

"Yes, I'm quite familiar with her for several reasons. She's an anomaly in that she isn't fully human and yet completely identifies as one."

"Not fully human?" I asked, confused. "Then what is she?"

"She is a quarter-demon."

I balked for a second. In all my experiences, I had never come across a demon. Much less a cross between demons and humans.

"You don't need to be alarmed," Impa said, noticing my hesitation. "She looks and acts very much like a human being, although her appearance defies her age. She is well into her fifties, but doesn't look or act any older than you. You could say that her personality reflects her appearance rather than her age."

"Is this supposed to make me more comfortable before she devours my soul?"

Impa chuckled to herself.

"Give her a chance. I think you two will get along quite well."

As we moved into the mountains, the sky darkened and took on a red hue. The Temple of Chaos was visible in the deep valley before us, although it didn't look like what I was expecting. It just looked like a regular church. The steeple towered above the rest of the valley and seemed to be the source of the red sky.

"What is that?" I asked Impa, pointing up.

"The chaos barrier that is maintained by the women present here. It prevents their enemies from entering. With Teah here, it would likely absorb anything short of a nuclear bomb or MAC round."

"Just how powerful is she?"

Impa shrugged.

"Her very nature makes her far more powerful than a regular Hylian, but she's not invincible. What I can say with certainty is that offensive magic has almost no effect on her, but Link could probably defeat her in single combat. Fortunately we don't have to worry about such a conflict ever arising, for reasons that will be apparent when you meet her."

Reaching the Temple of Chaos didn't take long, and soon I found myself standing in front of the large oak doors at the front of the building. Even at this distance I was struck by how normal the temple looked. It was apparent now why Impa had remained silent until we were almost here, since I would have made so many assumptions based on the name.

A female monk in a red robe opened the door and peeked out at us.

"Ah, Impa. Are you here to see Teah?"

"Indeed."

"Come on in."

We entered the building and I looked around, amazed by the muted beauty of the inside. The red hue of the barrier played tricks with hundreds of stained glass windows arcing high up on the walls, illuminating the altar in a dazzling red beam and making the rest of the room glow softly. An enormous effigy of the three goddesses stood behind the altar with Din featured prominently at the highest point. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the stained glass windows depicted Din's creation of the first planet, Castle.

Footsteps echoed across the inside of the temple, and I saw a woman in red armor appear from a nearby hallway.

"Teah," Impa said, nodding her head respectfully.

"Impa!"

Teah hurried over and grasped Impa's hand firmly, pulling her in for what looked to be a completely one-sided hug.

"Still as stiff as ever," Teah said, grinning. "Who is this with you?"

"I'm Malon White," I replied, studying the priestess as she turned to face me. She wasn't at all what I had been expecting, much like the rest of the temple. She seemed slightly disorganized, with her blonde hair tied into a messy ponytail and a clasp halfway open on her left shoulder plate. Her bright blue eyes conveyed nothing but friendliness, though, and she seemed to wear a permanent smile on her face. I noticed that she had heavy skin-colored makeup just under her eyes.

I shook her hand and she pointed at my armor.

"TALOS Mark 3?"

I nodded, impressed with her knowledge.

"Your last name. Is it…"

"Yes, her and Link are married." Impa said, cutting in.

"Ah, that's a shame. I was hoping to meet him while he was still single." Teah replied, patting me on the arm. "It seems you beat me to it. So what brings you to the ass end of Faron today? Do you need a place to stay for a few days?"

"Actually that would be highly appreciated," Impa said. "I have something important I'd like to discuss with you. In private."

"If it was important enough to break yourself away from the war, you'll have my full attention. Let me arrange for each of you to get a room and shower, and I'll have a meal ready in an hour. We can talk about it in my office."

Impa nodded, and Teah led us down a hallway into the living quarters of the temple. We waited while she checked several rooms, and then offered one to each of us. I could see why Impa thought Teah and I would get along now, since she seemed so genuine and friendly.

I made full use of the hour before dinner, enjoying a long shower and thoroughly cleaning the inside of my armor. Interestingly, the TALOS suit had changed to a dark red color upon entering the temple. Normally the camouflage stayed the same when walking into a building, but I was impressed with the vibrancy of the new color.

 _It matches my hair._ I thought, pleased at the thought. It was near impossible to look good in a full armor suit, but at least I had this small thing.

I was provided a full set of clothing to wear through the door, and soon found myself following Impa to Teah's office. Much to my excitement, she came in with a steaming plate of steak and seafood for both of us.

"You two must have been in a lot of combat since the invasion. I won't be able to offer this kind of meal the whole time you're here, but you certainly deserve it for tonight."

"You have our thanks," Impa said appreciatively. I waited for her to start eating out of habit, but ended up finishing the entire plate in just a few minutes. It felt like forever since I had eaten fresh food.

"So what's important enough to send you two looking for me?" Teah asked, not seeming to notice that her mouth was full of food. I was slightly amused.

Impa stared at her for a few seconds before tossing a napkin in her direction.

"I see you've forgotten every ounce of my lessons in general civility."

Teah grinned, chewing her food fully this time before speaking.

"You're as crusty as ever. Malon, I guess you know Impa's the most decrepit, batty woman I've ever met. I'm fifty-three and she still mothers me."

"Yeah, I've noticed," I replied, careful not to let my personal issues with Impa make their way into the conversation.

"Really, Impa. Why are you here?" Teah asked, her face becoming more serious.

"Things are getting bad," Impa said simply.

Teah sighed.

"I know. I've been out fighting, as well. Most of the women here have been in combat with the Eta Ali at least once in the past few months."

"The problem is one that you could be able to solve. You already know about the abomination that appeared in the capital, right?"

Teah nodded.

"That 'abomination' used to be a good, honorable man who worked in Hyrule Castle. His name was Richard, and he was close with the Queen."

 _Close is an understatement._ I thought to myself, remembering all the times I had been relegated to the living area of Zelda's penthouse while they had sex.

Impa spent several minutes explaining the sequence of events that had caused the curse to leave Link and take over Spud, the AI that controlled Castle's operations, and then how it had corrupted Richard after Spud was destroyed. Teah listened intently and never doubted what Impa said, although it seemed like she was probably more likely to believe in the arcane due to her position as a priestess.

When Impa was done explaining, Teah nodded in understanding.

"So what you're saying is that even if Richard dies, the curse will just jump to a new host and we could have the same problem on our hands?"

"Precisely," Impa replied.

"I see."

Teah stood up and walked over to the window, where she stared out in silence for a few moments.

"Okay, I get all that. But what are you asking me to do?" She asked finally.

"We need the complete Triforce to seal away the curse, which means we need you. You're the only one of the three bearers of the Triforce who actually knows how to use your power, which means Link and Zelda both need to be taught. You're the only person who can do this."

Teah turned back to look at Impa.

"This has always been the case, but I told you already that the ability to harness the power of the Triforce is purely a personal one that cannot be taught. I only gained my power through my connection with Din. Link and Zelda need to connect with their respective Goddesses before they'll ever begin to comprehend what they're capable of. Have you spoken with them about this?"

"I have tried." Impa said, looking down at her empty plate rather dejectedly. "They're not as receptive to the Goddesses as past incarnations."

Impa certainly wasn't wrong about that. Link tried to be religious, but it was a lukewarm belief at best. Zelda had almost completely lost faith in the Goddesses since experiencing the harsh realities of the monarchy.

"Do they even know that they hold pieces of the Triforce?" Teah asked.

"I've tried to tell them, but they don't listen. Zelda, in particular, doesn't care to hear me talk about religion, but the Triforce is our only solution to solve this problem. Furthermore, I believe Link would benefit greatly from learning how to manage his piece. It might be a way to repair the damage Demise's curse did to him."

Teah nodded.

"I can see the logic in that, at least. But I cannot make him believe when there's such little faith in the first place. For better or worse, Hylians were granted freedom of will in all things."

"You're a priestess, Teah. Certainly you've converted someone before."

"This isn't a simple matter of conversion," Teah replied. "Using a piece of the Triforce requires communing with the goddess who created that piece. Doing so requires the complete and unbreakable faith of the person who received it, or for the goddess to physically manifest herself in the bearer. Try as I might, I've never once received an indication from Din that she wishes to descend from the heavens. Farore and Nayru are no different, and certainly will not be personally coming to visit someone who denies the greatest gift they can give."

"That's why we need your help," Impa said. "If a descendant of demons can form such a strong connection with a goddess, surely you could help two lukewarm believers."

Teah sighed.

"I don't know what I can do, but I will think on it. It is without question that I cannot forcibly create a connection to the goddesses for someone else, though. I'm a priestess, not a miracle worker."

"I know," Impa said. "But you're my only hope in this. Seeing your connection to Din might be all Link needs."

"And Zelda?"

Impa shrugged.

"I don't know. All I know is that we need all three bearers of the Triforce for this to be possible without awakening sages."

"Have you considered that awakening sages may be the best option?" Teah asked. "Then we would only need Link or Zelda, not both."

"I… Have a different idea," Impa said. "It's a risk, but I think Link should attempt to destroy the curse when it's removed from Richard. It should be possible with three separate bearers of the Triforce and the Master Sword."

"That's a lofty goal. Typically sealing the curse works quite well."

"I know, but the seal is always broken again. Hyrule will always be in danger for as long as it exists."

"And yet none of the heroes since the dawn of time has been able to truly strike down Demise's shadow. What's different this time? You know that even if Link and Zelda help me draw the curse out, we won't have time to attempt its destruction and seal it if that fails. It will pass to a new body in a matter of seconds."

"Great victories have never been won with minimal risk," Impa replied.

Teah sighed.

"I understand where you're coming from. I'll talk to you about it again before you leave and we might be able to come up with a plan."

"Thank you," Impa said, bowing her head in a rare moment of humility. I had never seen her so desperately ask for someone's help.

"I get the feeling that that's not all," Teah said, glancing over at us.

"No, it's not. I'd like you to come back to-"

"Absolutely not."

"I knew you would say that."

"Then why ask?" Teah said. "You've asked me to join the SSC three times before, and all three times the answer was the same."

"Because you owe me a favor, and because Queen Zelda herself has requested you this time."

Teah stared, her mouth hanging slightly open in disbelief.

"You waited forty yearsto call this favor. _Forty years._ You let me build a life and dedicate myself to Din, and now you're dragging me away?"

"It would be temporary. I have the order right here." Impa replied, opening her tablet and pulling up a document. "You will be appropriately compensated, of course."

Teah snatched the tablet and read the document, her blue eyes burning furiously. Once she reached the middle, though, she paused.

"A… donation of five hundred million rupees and a plot of land in Castle Town to build a new temple?"

 _Holy hell, Zelda._ I thought, careful not to let my expression change. To donate five hundred million rupees was unheard of, and a plot in Castle Town large enough to build a new temple was worth close to that. That meant Zelda was donating in the realm of one billion rupees for Teah's temporary service in the SSC.

"You will be paid a discretionary salary of 500,000 rupees per year, as well," Impa continued. "What you do with that money is up to you. Needless to say, this will accomplish the longstanding goal of the Temple of Chaos to establish a broader foothold in the Hylian Empire and put you at the forefront of theological sects recognized by Hyrule."

Teah looked to be at a loss for words, instead choosing to pace around her office and read the contract several times.

"I'm only required to serve in the SSC until the end of the war?"

"You have my word, and it's in the contract."

"I just…"

I understood her hesitation, but it was obvious that Zelda was going to have her in the SSC regardless of what she wanted. Zelda almost always got what she wanted.

"This is a contract with the queen herself," Impa said after a few moments. "You can see her name at the bottom, which means she's paying you herself. I can assure you that while the queen has an enormous amount of money, that kind of donation is a significant portion of her personal wealth. That's how much she wants you by her side right now."

"Then I would be insane to turn this down," Teah said.

"I would tend to agree," Impa replied.

Teah paced for a few more moments before setting the tablet on her desk and sitting in her chair.

"I'm sorry, this was just very sudden. Not the kind of day I was expecting it to be."

"I understand. We'll be here for a couple more days, so you have some time to prepare and say your goodbyes for the time being. I'm sure your fellow believers will understand."

Teah looked up at us.

"You speak like the decision is already made."

"And you speak as if it isn't."

Teah put her face in her hands and nodded slowly.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Please leave me for now. You're welcome to stay here and explore the temple."

Impa nodded and motioned for me to follow her as she walked out of Teah's office. I took one glance back, hesitating as I left, but the priestess hadn't looked up.

…

I tossed and turned for most of the night, unable to fully relax after several weeks of combat. It felt like I could be ambushed any moment. I finally gave up around three in the morning and decided to wander around the temple for a little while.

When I walked into the main chapel, I was surprised to see that the whole room was still lit up with a bright red hue despite the darkness outside. It was slightly more eerie than during the daytime, but still felt comfortable.

Teah was sitting in a pew staring up at the altar in silence. I hesitated, unsure if I should interrupt or not. After a few seconds she glanced back to see who had come into the chapel. Even the dim lighting couldn't hide the tears streaking down her cheeks. Her makeup had run down her face, exposing the bright red coloring of her lower eyelids that ran across her temples to the tops of her ears. She wiped her eyes as I approached.

I sighed quietly. Impa wasn't known for sparing anyone's feelings.

"I'm sorry she did this to you," I said quietly, hesitant to break the silence.

"Don't be. This is war, and sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good," Teah said. "I know that this is the right thing to do."

I sat down next to her.

"But it doesn't always feel like the right thing, does it?"

She sighed.

"No, it doesn't. I know why Zelda needs me, but this place has been my home for over thirty years. For most of my early life I was an abomination, and I never truly fit in until I came to this place. I'm comfortable here. I love this place. And at the drop of a hat, it's all over."

I almost said something about her being able to come back once the war was over, but I knew what she meant. Things would never be the same once she left.

"If the Eta Ali win, it will really be over," I said finally.

"That's what I keep telling myself," Teah replied. "I've been sitting here mulling over that for the past eight hours, but of course it doesn't make me feel any better."

We sat in silence for a while, each unsure what to say to the other. Despite the awkwardness, I felt a certain attraction to this room. It was as if I hadn't been able to sleep simply so that I could be here right at this moment.

"Who are you to Impa?" I asked finally, deciding that Teah would give me a better answer between the two of them.

"She didn't tell you?"

"I haven't been… Well, let's just say Impa and I are in a rough patch."

"Oh," Teah said, nodding. "Yeah I've been there with her. She saved me from a lynch mob when I was thirteen and spent several years teaching me how to control my abilities and outbursts. That I'm able to live normally is due to her, so I owe her any number of favors."

"Your abilities were because of your heritage?" I asked.

"You don't have to beat around the bush with me," Teah responded. "I'm the daughter of a bastard child between a demon and a human. When I was a kid, I didn't understand what that meant or how to interact with others in a way that that wouldn't become a problem. My entire family was killed because I had an outburst and killed another child with magic. It wasn't pleasant, but it's been forty years. Thanks to Impa, I can actually help people now."

"And she ended up leaving you here?"

Teah shook her head.

"I came here as an adult when I was having a difficult time and the former priestess took me in. She knew what I was, but knew that teaching me how to fight would help with my self-control. I learned to use magic so that I wouldn't cause any more accidents, too. Through that, I was able to dedicate my life to the goddesses and act as the arbiter of Din's will."

She paused, and then laughed to herself.

"I'm sorry, I don't even know you and I've just told you my life story. Maybe I just needed someone to talk to today."

I brushed off her apology, instead asking dozens of questions for the next few hours to get a better idea of who she really was. I found that she was very talkative and more than willing to share details of her life with me. She swore up and down that she was truly 53 years old, although her quarter-demon heritage meant she aged half as fast as a normal human. She also had a deep love of hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship, and used specific magical skills to enhance her abilities. She hadn't lost a swordfight since she was a teenager.

On a religious level, she had only received the Triforce of Power a year ago after dreaming of the Gerudo invasion of Faron. Since then, Din had spoken to her on three separate occasions, although Teah wouldn't say what their conversations had been about. Much to my amusement, she once again lamented the fact that she hadn't been able to meet Link while he was still single. Impa had spoken very highly of him during a visit right after he had been recruited to the SSC and allowed her to creep around his military profile. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she wouldn't have had a chance with me living right next to him.

Once the sun began shifting the red light around the room, Teah paused in the middle of a sentence and stared up at the ceiling.

"I talked so much that I didn't have a chance to ask you about yourself," She said sheepishly. "But Impa mentioned you a few times, and I've heard you're good with a sword."

"You could say that," I said humbly. I was the best in the SSC in martial arts, and only Saria could beat me with a blade.

"Since we'll be working together, what do you say we go outside and beat the crap out of each other to see who's better?"

I couldn't say no to an offer like that. The men in the SSC would never fight me all-out and it had been forever since I'd had a good sparring session. I soon found myself in a training yard behind the temple in my TALOS armor with Teah across from me. We were in a five-meter circle, but we had both decided to completely ignore regular rules of fencing and just try to land a "killing" blow. Anything was allowed, including magic.

Teah wielded an estoc, which was essentially a tapered metal rod with an impossibly sharp tip. It had no edges and would be nearly useless as a slashing weapon, but could deliver rapid stabbing attacks in the blink of an eye. It could be far more effective than a regular sword with intensive practice.

We drew our weapons and circled each other for a few seconds, testing the other's nerves with some lazy strikes. Teah was left-handed, which forced me to adjust uncomfortably, but otherwise she didn't seem to have any unnatural talents. After a full minute of little more than a staring contest, I decided to transition to the offensive.

I leapt towards Teah and jabbed forward with my sword, hoping to power through her light weapon. She swiped upwards, catching my blade with her estoc and effortlessly tossing it aside.

It was at that moment that I realized exactly how heavy Teah's weapon was, which said a lot about her strength. I was wielding a regular broadsword, but her tiny estoc had easily absorbed my attack. I wouldn't be able to overpower her, so I would have to press the offense and hope that I could strike fast enough to slip around her defenses.

I attacked several more times, but Teah wasn't a pushover. She was testing my resolve before her own attack. After several of my failed attempts left me gasping for breath, she unleashed a fury of stabbing attacks that I had a difficult time dodging. She managed to twist her estoc into my arm rather than allow it deflect away, but we both agreed it wasn't a killing blow and continued the fight.

Teah was both incredibly fast and stronger than any man I had ever met. Despite every possible trick, she could easily keep up with my attacks and often counterattack instantly. I refused to let her hit me again, though, resorting to using magical barriers to block her estoc. When I had tried almost everything and felt myself getting too fatigued to continue the fight, I went to my last resort.

I lunged forward into a stab, allowing Teah to sweep my attack upwards, and then feigned like I was going to turn and slash sideways at her. She took the bait, counterattacking and lunging for my chest. I created a barrier with the last of my energy and barely stopped her attack. The impact left Teah reeling for a split second, but it was long enough for my swing to come around.

 _Got you!_

I nearly fell over when the slash never connected and I was left staring at empty space.

"Dead."

I turned and found Teah behind me to the right, with her estoc pointed at my neck. All I could do was laugh. She was so fast that I hadn't seen her move.

"Before you ask, that's one of my few offensive magical skills," She said. "It's not teleportation, but it functions the same."

I tossed my borrowed sword back over towards the rack and took off my helmet. I was dripping with sweat, but Teah didn't look any worse for wear.

"So you just move incredibly fast?" I asked.

Teah nodded.

"I can appear behind someone in less than half a second, but only once or twice in a fight. My magical reserves are small, at best."

"Apparently that's all you need," I said.

Some of the monks had stopped at windows in the temple to watch us fight, and quickly went about their business once I looked up and saw them.

"I'm actually very impressed with your defense," Teah added. "I don't think you noticed at the time, but I used several magically-enhanced attacks while we were sparring. I don't think I succeeded in breaking your barrier."

"One more hit would have done it."

We made our way inside, talking about the fight for a few more minutes before we ran into Impa. She had a standard grim expression on her face.

"I see you two have been at it already."

I nodded, and Teah did the same. We were both unhappy with Impa right now.

"Have you made preparations, Teah?" She asked. "I'd like to get you on a flight back to Castle by tomorrow morning."

Teah sighed.

"Yes, I'm prepared. You don't need to be so pushy about it. We both know I can't refuse."

"Very well. Take the rest of the day to say your goodbyes and finalize outstanding business, and we'll leave after dinner. Malon, you will be flying her back to Castle so that you can have a break from combat."

Teah nodded and we walked back to the living quarters. Once we were out of earshot, she turned to me and made a face.

"What an absolute hag. At least I get along with you."

I grinned, but refrained from saying anything in response.

"Anyways, go get cleaned up and I'll have someone come get you for breakfast."

I nodded and walked into my room, where I removed my armor and took a cold shower. Left alone with my thoughts, I couldn't help but wonder where Link was and what he was going through. Sometimes I felt like I could handle him being gone like this, but once I was alone it was different. I could only keep my concern down for so long.

I hated crying, but the more I tried to hold it back the faster the tears worked their way out. Eventually I gave up and found myself sitting down in the shower and staring at the ceiling. Being at this temple was an unexpected blessing to break me away from what felt like endless battle. Outside of this place I could be killed at any moment, but in here I didn't have to constantly watch my back. I even had time to worry about Link.

For several minutes, I let myself succumb to the flood of emotions and cry as much as I could. Once the tears ran dry, though, I took a deep breath and collected myself. War had never been easy, but I had at least had Link through half of the last one. I considered Zelda a friend, but she was also occupied and incapable of maintaining personal relationships right now. That left me almost completely to my own devices.

 _At least Teah seems all right._

I finally realized that the shower was freezing cold and stepped out. Once I had dried off, my moment of weakness seemed easier to hide behind a shell of indifference.

 _Link will be fine. He always is._

…

Link

…

It took me two days to make some basic articles of clothing out of animal hides and braided grass, and another day to create a few cups and pans out of scrap metal. I attempted to make a sealable container to hold water, but it didn't seem like it was going to work with the materials I had on hand. With food and clothing taken care of, I was able to focus on finding water and shelter each day. I was fortunate that this had happened after leaving the desert. If Raj had attacked me just two weeks ago, I would have died very quickly.

I hadn't forgotten to meticulously plan how I was going to kill Raj once I got out of here, but I had to focus on survival for now. I now had to spend approximately four times as much time looking for water and twice as long looking for food. Doing so left considerably less time for travel, and I had been unable to move more than fifteen kilometers since the attack. My new survival rule was that if I found a good source of water after midday, I had to stay there overnight and drink as much as I could. It severely limited travel but greatly increased my chances of survival.

On the fourth day after the attack I resolved to travel as far as I reasonably could to set a new distance goal for each day. I had planned to cut slightly northeast to find the ruins of an ancient metropolis with many sources of water, but it was still over 200 kilometers away. I would have to just grind out this portion of the trip and do my best along the way.

Of all the things Raj had taken from me, I was most upset about the picture of Malon I had kept in a protected pocket of my shirt. It was the only thing I had on the Gauntlet that allowed me to see her, and I resolved to make Raj's death the most painful I had ever inflicted on any human being because he had taken it. Hate was a powerful motivator, and the fact that Raj had so casually crushed me fueled my desire to finish this continent and meet him again.

As I walked during the day, I practiced using maniah to infuse the Master Sword with magic. I had previously found that I could make it burst into flames, but now I practiced creating an eraser around the blade. Doing so allowed me to swing it effortlessly through my own aura. I also tried several times to use gravity magic, but pressing down with my aura only did so much. I figured out very quickly that that wasn't what Raj had been doing.

Without appropriate boots, I found that I could only travel about 25 to 30 kilometers in a day, which was only half of what I had been accomplishing previously. Even that distance was a struggle, so I decided I would only try to keep that pace until I reached the metropolis. It was possible that I would be able to salvage some better equipment and actual clothing there.

Day after day I trudged across the plains, always on the hunt for water and an unsuspecting animal to kill. My collection of hides grew steadily until I could afford to leave behind the older, stiffer ones. I was glad that Malon had shown me how to skin animals before I came here. It was a skill that I had never had to learn. I had eaten mostly seafood while growing up on Koholint Island, where game animals were scarce. Once I joined the Navy I hardly ever spent time on a planet, so hunting was even less of a concern at that point.

It was now a matter of life and death, and I was finding that I could skin a deer in under ten minutes using magic. It was a rather draining process, but creating a small eraser at the tip of my finger worked far better than clumsily using the Master Sword for a job requiring so much precision.

The first signs of the metropolis appeared about a week after Raj had attacked. After swimming a narrow river the previous morning and running into a lake I recognized from the map, I was sure of where I was. Before passing the lake, I used as much maniah as I could to blast some fish out of the water, which worked surprisingly well.

I was now forced to make a decision about how I would attempt to cross the massive river, since I would either have to travel southeast or continue on my original path through the metropolis. It was easier now that Raj had taken all of my things. At this point I needed to get to the east coast as quickly as possible, and doing so would require taking risks. I would travel directly east to find the ancient bridge over the river and, failing that, find a narrow point to swim across. With only the Master Sword weighing me down, I was confident in my ability to swim if I had to.

The metropolis was a strange conflict of ruined technology and wildlife. Some large bridges and underground buildings still stood, although I tended to avoid them if I had other options. When I dug down beneath the plant life, I found broken roads made of concrete and strange metal bars. It was a strange concept to me since ground-based vehicles were rare in Hyrule, although I realized air travel had come a long way in the past few centuries.

Crossing the metropolis took four days of easy travel. There were several rivers and creeks in the area, and I even found a metal canister with a lid in an underground bunker. It seemed to be free of rust and didn't leak anywhere, so I took it with me. On the last day of travel I saw another candidate while surveying the area from a bridge, but didn't try to get any closer. We weren't allowed to interact with each other.

I felt like I had settled into a rhythm when I reached the forests several days after leaving the metropolis. I certainly wasn't traveling as fast, but I no longer feared for my survival and even felt boredom settling in again. I just wished that I had my notebook to write in again.

Two weeks passed with no further drama. Hunting in the forest was pathetically easy compared to the desert and plains, and my feet became tough enough to add a few extra kilometers onto my daily travel. I also found a few things each day that I could make easier by using magic to help myself learn to control it more precisely. It was frustratingly slow, but I could tell that I had improved since the Continent of Tests. At the very least, I could stretch my maniah further before I ran out. My aura was also improving in its intensity the more I practiced.

I thought back a few times to when I had been able to draw power from Demise's curse and wished I had had that power to fight Richard and Raj Gahar, but I knew that I wouldn't even be in this situation if that curse had stayed with me.

 _I'd have just ended up like Richard._

It was better for me this way. I still hadn't forgotten my sense of relief at losing the dark presence that had haunted me since a young age. It had been a constant pressure on my mind, especially during times of stress. After using small amounts of its power I had often found myself sick for days.

I may have had more willpower than Richard, but I wouldn't have lasted forever.

Despite that, I missed being among the most powerful Hylians to ever exist. I had used that magical power to accomplish several things that would have otherwise been impossible, including saving Zelda's life. The only reason I had been taken into the SSC was because I had so much magical energy, and Impa hadn't understood exactly what it was at the time. My continued presence in that group likely hinged on my success in building my magical abilities here, as well. There was only so much need for a sniper.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard a scratching noise off to the left. Through the trees, I could see a large black animal standing on its hind legs next to a tree. It clawed at the bark with its enormous paws for several seconds before dropping down to all four feet and staring angrily up at a piece of fruit that was just out of its reach. It turned towards me long enough to get a good look at its long face and round ears, but then went back to the task at hand.

I took another look at its thick hide and enormous muscles, and knew exactly what I needed to do.

…

The meat from the strange animal was absolutely disgusting when I cooked it over a fire, but I didn't have room to be picky in my current situation. I was far more interested in the hide, which took me over four hours of constant work to properly flesh. I used magic in an attempt to break apart the fatty layer underneath the skin. The result was a slightly softer but extremely thick hide that proved to be warmer than the rest of the animal skins I was wearing combined.

I wasn't done, though. I spent the next few hours forming permanent creases with magical pressure and bonding the hide to the best of my ability. I used an old deer hide to create a drawstring, and then hollowed out the head to make a hood to finish my newest article of clothing.

The cloak was thick and heavy, but I was willing to bear the weight for the added warmth and protection. I even had enough hide left over to tan with fire and make a primitive set of sandals.

 _I bet this looks ridiculous._ I thought to myself as I put the cloak on. Malon would have laughed herself to death at this sight, but I was warm and that was all that mattered.

I looked up at the sun and decided to call the rest of the day a loss. I had spent too much time on the hide, but I figured it would be worth it in the long run.

I only had about two hundred kilometers before I ran into the river, which meant I could make it in a week if I pushed myself. Reaching the river wasn't a problem, though. I absolutely had to find the bridge without doubling back.

I decided I would purposely travel further north than I needed to. Doing so would ensure that the bridge was to my south when I reached the river, which meant I wouldn't have to make a decision when I got there. I could just walk south and follow the waterline.

Once my plan was formulated and I had finished as much of the greasy meat as I could, I bedded down for the night and got some rest.

…

I found the bridge within a few hours of walking south along the river, but quickly realized that Raj hadn't simply stopped at taking my things.

The bridge was completely destroyed, with only the rusted metal posts still remaining. The twisted ends of what had been the walkway were still poking out of the river bank, their ends shining brightly where they had been recently torn away. I resolved once again to make Raj's death the most painful ever experienced by a living creature. I knew without a doubt that I was going to swim the river. At this point I would have to travel 350 kilometers south to find the next bridge, which would waste far too much time.

I could imagine Hilda cringing as I stripped off my clothes and bundled them around the Master Sword. I tied the package together with ropes made of stripped and braided deer hide, and then looked at the other side of the river. It was just under a kilometer away, which meant the current would be faster here than at wider points further downstream. Despite that challenge, I just had to make it to the supports that were spaced about 150 meters apart. I was slightly worried about getting injured on the wreckage, but the river was deep enough that I should be fine once I left the bank.

When I had tied my belongings around my waist, I decided to not waste any more time and waded into the water. Before I dropped my things, I used a small amount of maniah to force air into the fur cloak so that it would float.

The bottom of the river dropped quickly, forcing me to swim sooner than I had anticipated. The current wasn't bad here, and I made it to the first support easily.

 _Six left._

The current picked up quickly after I leapt off the support, but still wasn't unmanageable on the way to the second and third supports. Hilda had specifically warned me about the middle of this river, though, which made me very nervous. That was the first thing she had been concerned about, above all the other deadly things on this continent.

 _Here goes nothing._

I leapt into the water and began crossing the middle of the river. The change in temperature was the first thing that caught my attention. The middle of the river was absolutely frigid, making my muscles lock up slightly as I adjusted. I simply forced my arms and legs to move, refusing to allow a river to defeat me.

The first moment I actually felt panic was when the speed of the current doubled in an instant and brought with it even colder water. Before I knew it, I had been swept far enough downstream that I couldn't reach the bridge supports. Even worse, the current was starting pulling me underwater.

It was now a battle of willpower. I took the swim ten meters at a time, treading water and allowing myself to be swept further downstream so that I could catch my breath. Eventually the current started pulling downwards hard enough that I could no longer safely tread water. I had to stay as close to the surface as possible to avoid being pulled under.

When I looked over at the bridge supports on my left, I realized that I hadn't even reached the fourth support yet.

I took a deep breath and continued swimming, trying to hold back another wave of panic. I knew the current couldn't stay this strong for much longer, which meant that the best thing to do was keep moving forward and get out of it so I could tread water again.

Willpower could only push my muscles so far, though. My arms and legs felt like lead and the current was unrelenting. The cold water made my chest feel so tight that it was hard to breathe. I knew I was sinking, but I refused to believe it until my eyes went underwater.

My mind was racing, and I suddenly realized that I really could die right here.

 _No. Not today._

I broke the surface of the water and took a ragged breath, inching forward with a slow breast stroke until the current pulled me under again.

This time I thought back to Malon as I forced myself to move. If I died here, she would never have closure. There wouldn't even be a body to bury. My legs weren't moving anymore, so I furiously paddled with my arms in an attempt to escape the frigid current.

I could hardly see the bridge when I glanced over, so I had no idea how far I had gone or how much I had left.

My arms gave out again, so I tried to kick my feet.

 _No good._

This time my entire head went underwater while I tried desperately to move. I could only flop my arms ineffectively while the current pulled me under. Panic finally washed over me as I sank into the black depths of the river. Despite my terror, though, I still couldn't move my limbs.

I desperately cried for help, unsure of who I expected to come to my aid.

 _You're alone. Nobody is coming. You're going to die here._

I had almost accepted that when my right hand glowed brightly, lighting up the water around me with green light. I could see all the way to the bottom of the river and to each bank.

Suddenly I felt warm again, and the current stopped pulling me under. My arms and legs were working again, so I started swimming towards the surface to pull a breath into my screaming lungs.

I was seeing stars and knew I was about to pass out. The surface of the water was too far away, but I had to try. The last thing I remembered was my vision going dark just a few meters from the surface.

…

Malon

…

Teah woke with a start, yelling as she leapt to her feet. I looked back from the cockpit of our cargo ship.

"What's wrong?"

"I just…" She started, but didn't seem to know how to finish her sentence. After a few moments she walked into the cockpit and knelt down next to me.

"Din just spoke to me," She whispered. "Farore descended to our realm."

I stared at her for a few seconds before she continued.

"If Link is actually the hero, it means…"

"Does that mean he's in trouble?" I asked.

"Not anymore, no."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's nothing I can do about it by worrying," I said. "Thank you for telling me, though."

Teah nodded and walked back to the small living quarters behind the cockpit. Impa had stayed behind on Faron while we were flying back to Castle, so I was unsure why she had whispered the revelation to me. We were the only ones on the ship.

 _She's just socially awkward._ I thought to myself with a shrug.

I tried to believe my own words and not worry about Link, but that wasn't going to work. I took a deep breath and turned off autopilot so that I could focus on flying instead of being concerned.

 _Please be okay, Link. Please come back._

…

Link

…

I woke up on the side of the river, sitting up with a start.

 _What…_

I froze when I saw a woman sitting with her back to me. My right hand was still glowing with the mark of the Triforce, and it brightened when she turned towards me. I was suddenly struck with intense fear as I looked at her face, so I diverted my gaze. I couldn't even speak to thank her for saving me.

For the briefest moment, I understood exactly who this woman was and why I was alive.

 _I still have purpose. I'm still needed. I will not die here._

The goddess was gone when I looked up, and my hand was no longer glowing. There wasn't even an imprint in the sand where she had been sitting. I found a pair of boots and a pile of clothing sitting next to me, as well as the rest of my possessions. They had been laid out neatly and were completely dry. The cloak was now cleaned and properly sewn so that it fit me perfectly.

The clothing consisted of a gray tunic and a comfortable pair of pants with a thick leather belt. The boots fit well and didn't seem to need to be broken in. Even better, I felt fully rested despite the fact that it had only been a few minutes.

I realized as I got dressed that I couldn't remember anything about the goddess' appearance. She had definitely had a human-like figure, but in my mind she was now simply a featureless entity. All I could remember was her happiness at seeing me awake and the message that had inserted itself into my thoughts.

I realized immediately that my fur cloak had been enchanted when I put it on. It no longer had weight, and I felt as if I could control the flow of my maniah more effectively. When I poked at it with the Master Sword, I was unable to even cut a single hair.

 _At least nearly dying got me some actual clothing._

Before I set out, I felt something in my pocket and reached down to figure out what it was. Interestingly, it was my notebook that I had recorded the first part of my journey in, with my map and picture of Malon tucked into the back cover. Everything was just as it had been before Raj took it from me. I even had a new pen to write with.

I smiled, feeling truly happy for the first time since I had come to this place. I had been given another chance, and I resolved to make the best of it.

…

I could smell the ocean about a day before I reached the east coast. It had taken exactly three weeks to cover the distance, which was much quicker than I had originally estimated.

I dropped to my knees and cried when I reached the water, and then laid in the sand for several hours without moving. Hilda had told me she would regularly monitor the coastline for my arrival, so I simply had to wait until I was found.

It didn't take long. A purple King's Arm transport ship appeared on the horizon just six hours after I arrived, throwing up a cloud of sand as it landed several hundred meters away. I stood up and threw the fur cloak around my shoulders. Once I had gathered the rest of my belongings, I walked down the beach and met Hilda as she opened the side door.

"Welcome back, Link."

She guided me into the ship, taking my things and ushering me towards the shower in the bathroom. I found soap, shampoo, a razor, and shaving cream waiting for me, but I just sat in the shower for 15 minutes and enjoyed the hot water. The ship took off during that time, so I finished cleaning weeks of grime and filth, and then shaved the thick beard that I had grown.

When I finally put on the King's Arm robes that had been left in the bathroom and walked back into the main cabin of the ship, Hilda stared at me with a concerned look. I was reminded again just how much she looked like Zelda.

"How long was it?" I asked finally.

"In Castle time?"

I nodded.

"123 days."

I nodded and sat down in a padded chair, sighing in relief.

"You might be interested to know that the previous record for crossing the Continent of Endurance was 138 days. That record has been in place for several hundred years, and it was thought to be unbeatable."

I wasn't interested. Not right now.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I'm taking you to the next continent, but you'll spend several weeks recuperating under medical surveillance. Once you've been cleared, you'll start the next set of events. Normally you would have as much time to recover as you spent on the Continent of Endurance, but we've got you on an accelerated schedule."

I nodded, relieved that I could at least have a few weeks off. I didn't want to do anything for a while.

"And Link," Hilda said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Congratulations. I'm glad you made it."

…

 **See my profile for a couple pieces of added information regarding the chapter. The updated stuff is labeled 21 JAN 2018.**

 **Also, this chapter puts my story at over 200,000 words. I never believed it would become a monster like this when I started writing the first chapter in 2015. Thanks to you guys who have stuck with it to this point, and don't worry. There's a lot more coming.**

 **Please review!**


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